How Boro benefited from the bond of their star loanee and bubbly striker.
And how fitting that it was Ayling’s name that was chanted next. It’s going too far to put Ayling in the same category as Fuchs, Zenden, Bamford and Ramirez (before what followed), but the full-back undoubtedly ranks high on Boro’s loan success list .
It says it all about Ayling’s impact: on the day Latte Lath scored his 11th league goal in 12 games, it was the Leeds United defender who will have been on fans’ lips as they left Riverside – especially when news broke that his loan deal was “about” to be made permanent.
Ayling and Latte Lath both deserve immense credit for their leading roles, not only in the final victory over Watford but also in the superb finish to the season,
A year ago, as Boro faced the painful aftermath of the Coventry City defeat, attention quickly turned to how they decided to replace Chuba Akpom and Ryan Giles. Impossible mission? Maybe not. With eight assists in 11 games, Ayling fell just three short of reaching Giles’ tally from all of last season. And while there’s no denying that Akpom were in a league of their own last season, among the league’s top 20 scorers this season, only two – Jamie Vardy and Josh Sargent – had a better minutes per goal ratio than Latte Lath.
The striker’s 18th goal of the season put Boro on the road against Watford, who they were terrifying. If the 25-year-old can continue this form next season, he will strike fear into the hearts of every defender in the Championship. Especially if he has Ayling to revive him.
Latte Lath must have been as delighted as the Boro fans when Ayling told BBC Tees on the pitch after the match that a permanent move to Boro was being considered.
“The way Luke gets up and down that side and his deliveries, he’s been great for us,” Carrick said.
“Luke and Manu and their relationship, it all depends on their personalities and their willingness to get along, talk to each other and understand each other. In the end, you get your rewards.”
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Boro have been rewarded for their recruitment flexibility. Ayling doesn’t necessarily tick the boxes for the type of player Boro will favor in transfer windows, but there has been a recognition of the importance of finding a balance, something Watford boss Tom Cleverley highlighted in the Riverside newsroom Saturday afternoon.
“They’re a really promising team,” he said of Boro.
“They have some good young players but the balance with experienced Championship players is key, players like Ayling, Clarke.
“I really like the center forward. They have good tools.”
They also have a head coach in Carrick who has impressively come through some difficult and trying times. Not only did he turn the season around after the nightmare began, but he then kept it alive when it so easily could have run out of steam over the past few months. After Stoke’s dismal defeat in March, Boro’s campaign couldn’t end soon enough. Now, after one defeat in the last 12 matches, the general feeling is that next season cannot start soon enough.
It was undoubtedly a season of transition, underlined by a statistic highlighted by Carrick after Saturday’s match, which ended in victory thanks to late goals from Alex Bangura and Isaiah Jones after Wesley Hoedt’s equalizer for the Hornets.
“I think 20 players have debuted this year, which is obviously an incredible number,” Carrick said.
“Obviously there’s some young people in there, but the number of new signings coming into the club, that’s a lot of players when you consider the gelling, the connections and the wavelengths with each other .
“I think the players should take a lot of credit for being willing to adapt and sacrifice for each other. To finish the season the way we did to me embodies that.”
