Mel Sterland on why 'magnificent' Whites ace should be Leeds United's player of the year

Ayling only made his first appearance of the 2019-20 Championship season on October 1 with the defender recovering from surgery to correct an ankle problem during the summer.

The full-back returned as a 75th-minute substitute in the 1-0 victory at home to West Brom on October 1 and the defender has started every league game since.

In bombing forward from right back, Ayling has also weighed in with four goals and three assists with the 28-year-old netting three times in United's last five games before the season became suspended due to the country's battle with coronavirus.

After signing from Glasgow Rangers in July 1989, Sterland was another White who enjoyed jetting up and down the touchline from right back with the former Sheffield Wednesday defender helping Leeds claim the Division Two title under Howard Wilkinson in 1990 en route to becoming champions of England two years on.

It is, though, says 58-year-old Sterland, with no bias as a former right back that Sterland believes Ayling has been the club's stand out player of the current campaign.

"I think he should get player of the season, 100 per cent," Sterland told the YEP.

"I think he has been absolutely magnificent.

"I am not just saying that because I am a right back, I think he has done ever so well.

"When he had his injury, he struggled to get back into it and then all of a sudden he has just taken off.

"He's been magnificent, scoring goals, making goals, defending well and then you think what they paid for him which was next to nothing.

"He's had some great seasons at Leeds and let's hope he carries on like that."

Ayling will finally get the chance to continue his and United's stellar season when Leeds return to action next weekend with their Sunday lunch-time showdown at Cardiff City.

Championship front-runners Leeds have not played since the 2-0 win at home to Huddersfield Town on March 7, after which the English football season soon became suspended in the battle against COVID-19.

United's squad quickly began training from home - even before lockdown - and Marcelo Bielsa's men were finally able to return to tailored training at Thorp Arch at the end of May.

Leeds were then given the green light to resume full contact training at the beginning of June which meant the return to head coach Bielsa's weekly murder-ball sessions - training matches where the ball is continually put back into play.

"I bet that is hard!" laughed Sterland.

"But that's fantastic is that, getting stuck in, that's great.

"You wouldn't get a breather, it would be 100 miles an hour but that's the way Leeds play because they play with a good tempo which is fantastic and which Wilko used to do.

Assessing how much he himself would have fancied playing in the current Whites side, Sterland beamed: "I would have loved it.

"I would have loved the way they play when they play five across the back spread out with wing backs. That's different class.

"When I played at Sheffield Wednesday with Howard, he had the three centre halves and the two wing backs in, he did that at Sheffield Wednesday.

"At the time, Howard used to get slaughtered because all we used to do was kick the ball long which was a lot of rubbish.

"We used to get the ball wide and get the crosses in for Chappy to put it in the back of the net.

"You look at it now and everybody is doing it.

"We played with two wing backs and three centre halves and one drops into centre midfield but I'd have loved playing out there now."

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