DANIEL AYALA suddenly has Premier League clubs keeping an eye on him and the Spaniard is in a rush to play in the top-flight again – with Middlesbrough.

Boro stayed firmly in the picture for a top two spot by cruising to a 3-0 victory over struggling Charlton, although there remains plenty of work to be done to leave the Championship behind come May.

Ayala has had two spells in the Premier League with Liverpool and Norwich City, but has spent the last few seasons in the second tier of English football trying to make a name for himself to climb back up a division.

At Middlesbrough he has become one of Aitor Karanka’s automatic picks because of his exceptional form and he has a desire and determination to keep going even though he knows there is a growing interest in him.

Ayala was outstanding last week when he helped to keep Wayne Rooney and Anthony Martial quiet as Middlesbrough progressed to the quarter-finals of the Capital One Cup at Manchester United’s expense.

But the centre-back knows that ending Middlesbrough’s seven-year wait for a Premier League place remains the priority and he is convinced Karanka has the men capable of delivering that aim.

The 24-year-old said: “To be honest you are where you deserve to be. At the minute I am in the Championship but hopefully next year I will be in the Premier League.

“I think playing in the Premier League can be sometimes easier than playing in the Championship, so I feel I can do that.

“The Charlton game was a completely different game to Wednesday at Old Trafford, but we have unbelievable players this year so I know we can break teams down.

“This is the year we have to go up, it’s not just me, everyone believes we can do it this year and hopefully we can keep going and go up this year.”

Ayala scored 12 minutes from time to wrap up the three points for Middlesbrough against Charlton. He directed a lovely header inside Stephen Henderson’s far corner when he met David Nugent’s flick from Stewart Downing’s delivery.

By that time the home side were already two goals up, but they had to be patient. The first only arrived just before the hour mark when Nugent was on hand to convert a poorly controlled Adam Clayton cross from close range.

Six minutes later the second arrived when Albert Adomah cut inside from the right, swung his left foot at the ball from the edge of the box and the ball took a deflection off a defender before finding Henderson’s top right corner.

Middlesbrough were out of sight, even though for an hour Charlton had somehow managed to keep them at bay despite looking every bit a side occupying a relegation spot in the Championship.

Ayala said: “Every team in the Championship sees teams suffer bad results, the Championship is one of the tightest leagues around, so we had to be aware of what Charlton were capable of.

“I think Tuesday against Rotherham will be a bit more difficult than this so we will have to break them down and go again. I was surprised that Charlton never tried to get going from the beginning. Maybe with the new manager they can start to pick up points.”

After last Wednesday’s memorable penalty shoot-out win over Manchester United, it was always going to be difficult for Middlesbrough to come back down to earth and defeat Charlton.

And it had looked as if the Addicks, managed by interim boss Karel Fraeye for the first time, might actually leave the Riverside with something after keeping the home side at bay for the hour.

Middlesbrough completely dominated the game and held a staggering 74 per cent of the possession over the course of the 90 minutes. There were also an incredible 25 shots on goal and 15 corners from the Teessiders, compared to Chartlon’s five and two.

The London club wanted to keep things tight and try to pinch a goal, although had Reza Ghoochannejhad’s late effort, which was stopped by Dimi Konstantopoulos, gone in then things might have been different.

Ayala said: “Every team is difficult to play against and we knew we had a lot of quality. It was just a matter of time before we broke them down. It’s normal now when teams come here and defend because they know we have a lot more quality than last year.

“It’s up to us to break them down. I was surprised that Charlton never tried to get going from the beginning. Maybe with the new manager they can start to pick up points.

“We are winning games and that has given us a lot of confidence. It is always hard to go from the highs of Old Trafford and then back to the league but the most important thing for us is the league, so we have to make sure we do that now until the Everton game.”

Middlesbrough are dealing with the pressures so far, but with Brighton still three points clear Karanka knows they have to build on what has already been started if Ayala’s promotion dream is to be fulfilled come May.