Middlesbrough boss Jonathan Woodgate clarifies Daniel Ayala situation amid contract and Leeds United reports

Defender Daniel Ayala hasn't played for Middlesbrough since New Year's Day.

The 29-year-old centre-back hasn’t played since New Year’s Day after picking up an ankle injury at Preston and is out of contract this summer.

It was reported this week that the Spaniard, who has been linked with a move to Championship leaders Leeds, had refused to play in Boro’s remaining nine games – despite his contract running until June 30.

Woodgate was inevitably asked about Ayala ahead of Saturday’s meeting against Swansea City, with the Boro head coach quick to clarify the situation.

“Dani hasn’t been a problem or hindrance or anything like that,” said Woodgate.

“We offered Dani a contract in November, October time and he didn’t want to sign it, I have no problem with that at all.

“Dani has been injured now for about six months, he trained with the team the first few days when we were social distancing and then he trained one session with the team and his ankle got sore.

“Dani said to me that he would be available to play in June but he wouldn’t play in July and that is the truth of the matter.”

“Different players make different decisions, I can’t speak for them. They have all got different decisions to make and whatever decision they make I respect that decision.”

If Ayala was available in June, the defender would have been eligible to face Swansea and Stoke this month, yet Woodgate says the defender isn’t fully fit.

“He’s not fit enough to be involved, he still has pain in his ankle and this pain has been there since January time now,” Woodgate added.

“He’s tried to come back but he’s only trained once with the group when we were social distancing. He’s not fit enough to play June and he’s not going to play in July.

Ayala aside, Boro should have a fully fit squad for the meeting with Swansea, and Woodgate believes his side can cope without the Spaniard.

“Dani’s a good footballer,” Woodgate added. “We will miss him but I have other players to step into that position, Harold Moukoudi, Ryan Shotton and Dael Fry.”