Orta can land dream Ayling heir as Leeds plot bid for £59m-rated gem with "everything” - opinion

Leeds United have the youngest squad in the Premier League with an average age of 24.4 according to Transfermarkt.

However, the Whites do have some senior figures in their ranks that have hit the age of 30, one of which is right-back, Luke Ayling.

Back in August 2016, the Yorkshire club secured a deal for the defender from Bristol City. Since then, the Englishman has gone on to make a total of 220 appearances for Leeds across all competitions.

In those appearances, the defender has chipped in with eight goals and eight assists along the way.

At the age of 30, Ayling will be entering the final year of his current contract at Elland Road at the end of the month.

With that in mind, it could be worth Victor Orta looking to bring in a suitable long-term replacement for the veteran.

Despite securing a deal for RB Salzburg defender Rasmus Kristensen, another right-back that could fit the bill under Jesse Marsch that has been linked with a move to the club in the last few weeks is Sergino Dest.

After working his way through Ajax’s youth ranks and into their senior side, the 21-year-old then joined Barcelona back in October 2020 in a deal worth £23.8m.

With 182 club appearances under his belt for his past and present clubs, the full-back has scored 11 goals and delivered 20 assists in the process.

Having ended the recent La Liga campaign with the fourth-highest average of dribbles per game (1.8), it certainly shows how he could be a good replacement for Ayling, who ended his recent Premier League season with the third-highest average of dribbles per game (0.9) in the squad.

Despite predominantly playing as a right-back, the youngster has been deployed in all sorts of different defensive and attacking positions on both sides of