Luke Ayling is in line to make his Leeds United return in their Championship clash against Nottingham Forest on New Year’s Day, according to Leeds Live.
The defender, 27, has been sidelined since suffering a medial collateral ligament knee injury, ironically against Forest, on 27 October.
Leeds Live report his most likely return date is the 1 January showdown at the City Ground after Marcelo Bielsa suggested at his media conference last Thursday that the player could return “this month”.
OPINION
Leeds have made do with a number of emergency right-backs during Ayling’s absence, with teenager Jamie Shackleton taking the baton in Saturday’s 2-1 win against QPR that had previously been held by Stuart Dallas, the latest in a long line of senior United players to have succumbed to serious injury. With Gaetano Berardi also out until February, it is likely Ayling will return to the starting XI as soon as he is fit again. The former Bristol City defender is the club’s first choice right-back and, like so many of those who have come under Bielsa’s wing at Elland Road, was playing the best football of his career before he broke down in October. Shackleton is an exciting option at right-back, with his blistering pace providing an exciting weapon, but Ayling is a solid and experienced defender who will be a key man in the second half of the campaign as the club push hard for promotion.