Former Leeds United defender Luke Ayling has admitted that Middlesbrough have a legitimate chance of getting promoted to the Premier League this season.
Ayling was part of the Leeds team that got promoted to the top flight under Marcelo Bielsa in 2020 and showed his quality at the Premier League level as well.
The defender left Leeds to join Middlesbrough on loan in January this year before the move was made permanent on a free transfer in the summer transfer window.
Boro came close to breaking into the top six last season but finished eighth and missed out on being part of the promotion playoffs.
Michael Carrick’s side have made a slow start to the ongoing season and are sitting 12th in the league table after winning two of their opening six Championship games.
However, Ayling believes Middlesbrough are amongst the teams who will fancy their chances of getting promoted to the Premier League at the end of the season.
Former Leeds United star is hopeful of promotion with Boro
Ayling knows what it takes to get promoted to the Premier League from his time at Leeds and indicated that the Championship is much more open this season.
He believes several teams will fancy a run for promotion this term and his Middlesbrough side are definitely one of them.
Boro have struggled for goals this season, scoring just six times in the league so far but Ayling feels the team will rise through the league table once they start hitting the back of the net regularly.
“I think a lot of the teams in this league will look at the table this year and feel it’s a good chance to get promoted”, Ayling told The Northern Echo.
“We’re no different.
“We think we’ve played good football, and I think once we start scoring our goals, we will move up the table.”
Ayling’s former side, Leeds, are one of the teams who have been tipped to be one of the strong contenders for automatic promotion this season.
