The Arsenal youngster has a good footballing brain and demonstrated this with excellent passing and positioning
I picked Luke Ayling as the subject of my report because I thought it was important to bring to people’s attention that Arsenal’s youth side have a nice balance of foreign talent and homegrown British lads who are being brought through the system. Ayling is one of the latter players and has already spent seven years with the Gunners. His long education with Arsenal came as no surprise to me after watching his polished performance last Wednesday night in the second leg of the FA Youth Cup semi-final against Manchester City.
Right from the first minute when the young centre-half anticipated a long ball being played down the channel and neatly sidestepped his opponent to clear, you could see that this was a lad who was completely tuned into what was required.
Being a good reader of the game helped as did his constant communication with his fellow defenders, never allowing them to lose concentration and switch off. A perfect example of this was after Arsenal had scored when he ran the length of the pitch to congratulate the scorer. That is always a sign of good team spirit but I was more impressed by what happened next. He showed his awareness of the dangers of his side losing their focus by making sure they concentrated on not conceding straight after going ahead when a team is likely to be vulnerable.
His excellent communication skills also helped him when City had opportunities to hit the ball into the penalty area. When this happened he always made sure there was a team-mate in front of the man he was marking to stop the City player receiving the ball to feet in the box.
I liked the way he followed the path of the ball as well, meaning when an opponent had time and space to play a pass forward he dropped off as it was made. But when Arsenal players in front of him put pressure on the ball, causing the City player to pass it backwards, that was his trigger to step forward. He squeezed the play in front of him and never allowed a City forward any more room than he thought necessary.
He is more than capable in the air and was so good with both feet that it was difficult to tell which one he preferred. One area needs a little work. Once or twice, but not every time, he lost his man at free-kicks, not so much from the initial ball played into the box but when it was cleared. As City won second-phase possession he let the player he was marking run off instead of staying with him until he had seen the danger out and Arsenal had won the ball back.
His positioning for balls coming into the box was excellent and he was the player best-placed to clear on numerous occasions, which he did with ease. He also showed his maturity by constantly working his centre-forward, stepping up to catch his opponent offside – something the back four had obviously worked on.
The Gunners’ young lads ran out comfortable winners in this game but it was a match in which City always looked dangerous going forward, so for Ayling it was a good test – one which he passed with flying colours.
How he rates
Age 17
Born London
Position Centre-half
Height 5ft 11in
Weight 11st 5lb
From Trainee
Awareness 8
Positioning 8
Heading 9
Tackling 8
Team responsibility 8
Value £500,000