Birmingham City have been credited with an interest in defender Luke Ayling ahead of the opening of the summer transfer window - but they'd need to remain a Championship club to maintain a hope of attracting him to St Andrew's. Ayling is currently at Middlesbrough on a loan deal until the end of the season, but his contract with Leeds United will expire this summer and so he'll become a free agent, on the look-out for the next chapter of his career.
Ayling had lost his place in the starting XI at promotion chasing Leeds under Daniel Farke and he was presented with the opportunity to make the switch to Championship rivals Boro midway through this campaign; since, he has been a regular in the side managed by Michael Carrick; the right-back, who turns 33 in August, spent seven and a half years at Elland Road and made over 250 appearances for the Whites.
Since arriving at the Riverside, however, Ayling has been depended on by Carrick, whose Boro side have enjoyed some excellent form in recent weeks despite missing out on a place in the play-offs; featuring 18 times, he has completed 90 minutes in all but four of those appearances, and one of those was the recent defeat to Leeds in which he was ineligible to feature against his parent club.
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Blues, if they remain in the division which will involve the non-negotiable beating of Norwich City next Saturday and results elsewhere - involving Plymouth Argyle, Blackburn Rovers and Sheffield Wednesday - going in their favour, have some calls to make on the recruitment front. Cody Drameh, who played with Ayling at Leeds and has previously been his right-back understudy, is also out of contract but it remains to be seen if Blues will pursue a permanent deal.
In the event that they decide against offering Drameh a contract, it'd leave Ethan Laird as the club's sole senior right-back on Blues' books and would involve another summer in which the club would have to explore the full-back area of the transfer market. Ayling, in that sense, would offer experience and competition in the right-back department - but Blues, naturally, would have competition in that scenario.
The Sun reports that Sheffield United, whose relegation from the Premier League was confirmed on Saturday following their heavy defeat at Newcastle United, would also be in the market for a full-back and they could offer Ayling the opportunity to remain in Yorkshire. Then there are Boro, too, who have offered Ayling regular Championship football again since his January switch.
Back in March, after Boro's 1-0 win over Blues at St Andrew's, Carrick said of Ayling: "You're always playing for something and as it stands at the moment that's obviously what's next. Looking at him, that's not at the forefront of his mind at all. He's all in, he's desperate to do well and win games for us. We'll see. That will play out how it's going to play out over the next few months."
Ayling has contributed to Boro's recent form with six assists as he lives up to his reputation as a marauding full-back who impacts matches in the opposing half. Boro have won six and drawn four of their last 11 league matches, the sole defeat coming in the manic 4-3 defeat to Leeds recently which, as already mentioned, Ayling wasn't permitted to be involved in.
