Aitor Karanka’s first season as Middlesbrough’s manager began with the January 2014 transfer window, which would give the team a cult figure for many years to come.
After Tony Mowbray left Boro in November 2013, Karanka was appointed as the team’s first foreign manager. Given that this would be his first full-time managerial position following years as José Mourinho’s assistant at Real Madrid, the club viewed it as a significant risk.
After the turbulent Gordon Strachan era at the Riverside, the Spaniard was tasked with building on the foundations that Mowbray left behind, with Boro sitting in 16th place in the Championship when he arrived, and only five points above the relegation zone.
He would need to completely restructure the playing roster in order to accomplish that, and the 2014 winter transfer window was his first significant chance to begin making his mark on his Middlesbrough team.
Daniel Ayala, a centre-back for Norwich City, was one such addition. Over the next six and a half years, he would be instrumental in one of the team’s most prosperous eras.
Daniel Ayala converts a loan from Middlesbrough into a permanent move to Riverside at a discounted cost.
After signing a three-month emergency loan agreement with Middlesbrough in October 2013, Karanka had seen enough of his countryman in the brief time they had worked together to get his signature permanently.
For just £350,000, Boro acquired the then-23-year-old from Norwich City on January 24, 2014. Ayala signed a three-and-a-half-year contract, making Karanka his first long-term addition to the Middlesbrough roster.
It soon became clear that Karanka wanted to make Boro meaner and tougher in defence, which is why Ayala took him. The Spaniard was frequently intimidating center-forwards with his powerful physique, even though he was still relatively young. He could also play with the ball at his feet.
He made 19 appearances overall in his debut season on Teesside, scoring three goals, giving Boro an idea of the threat he would pose at the opposite end of the pitch going forward.
Ayala becomes a mainstay of the Premier League promotion in the centre of Middlesbrough’s defence, which sets new records.
In the 2014–15 season, it quickly became evident that Middlesbrough was a football team on the rise as Karanka and his staff worked with more ins and outs.
As the Teessiders moved from mid-table security to serious promotion contenders in the 2014–15 season, players like Emilio Nsue, Lee Tomlin, Adam Clayton, Kike, and Adam Forshaw all joined Boro.
They would concede just 37 Championship goals that season, which was the fewest in the division, as Karanka’s side secured a fourth-placed finish in his first full season in charge.
A two-legged play-off semi-final win over Brentford booked Boro’s date with destiny, as they would take on Ayala’s former employers Norwich City in the play-off final at Wembley Stadium.
Goals by Cameron Jerome and Nathan Redmond would see the Canaries take their spot in the Premier League for the 2015/16 season, as Middlesbrough came agonisingly short at the final hurdle.
However, it was a tremendous campaign from the boys in red and white, and Ayala was a key part of their victory. He would end that campaign with four goals in 30 Championship matches, having established himself as a major component of Karanka’s defence.
2015/16 would see the club banish their Wembley demons and go one better, securing automatic promotion on the final day of the season with a draw against Brighton on a memorable afternoon at the Riverside.
Remarkably, Middlesbrough would concede just 31 times in the Championship that season, which was the fewest number of any team across England’s top four divisions.
The Riverside became a fortress under Karanka, with his team achieving a new club record of nine consecutive home clean sheets that year, and once again, Ayala was a significant factor behind that.
His centre-back partnership with Ben Gibson was perhaps the greatest in the Championship, with their no-nonsense mentality coupled with the ability to play, pass and launch attacks being a nightmare combination to overthrow for the opposition.
Ayala leaves history as one of Boro’s top Championship defenders
Promotion to the Premier League saw Karanka make a number of fresh recruits, including centre defenders Bernardo Espinoza and Calum Chambers respectively.
It was Chambers who would become the preferred starting choice in central defence alongside Gibson, resulting in Ayala making just 14 top-flight appearances during Boro’s ill-fated 2016/17 campaign.
Karanka would exit the club in March 2017, and relegation from the Premier League would soon follow. Ayala would be reinstated as a vital starter in the core of Boro’s defence, though, if the team were to return to the second division.
He made 34 Championship games in 2017–18, scoring seven goals and dishing out one assist. In terms of goals scored, it was one of the best individual seasons for a centre-back in Middlesbrough’s history.
After two more years of service, Ayala chose to end his Middlesbrough career by joining Blackburn Rovers in September 2020 because he was not promoted back to the Premier League and his contract was coming to an end.
Ayala left a history as one of Boro’s finest defenders to represent the club in the Championship. A critical element of one of Middlesbrough’s best defensive groups of all-time, his tough-tackling, no-nonsense and collection of important goals saw him eternally win a place in the hearts of Teessiders.
23 goals, seven assists, 216 appearances, and numerous memorable moments—all for a pittance of £350,000.
