WITH Daniel Ayala closing in on a return to first-team action, Jonathan Woodgate has admitted he needs players to be willing to play even if they are just “85 or 90 per cent fit”.

Ayala has been sidelined for seven weeks with an ankle injury, but while the Spaniard will not be involved in tomorrow’s home game with Leeds United, he is set to return to full training soon.

It remains to be seen how much longer he then has to wait before he is available for senior action, but Woodgate clearly does not want a scenario where his absence stretches deep into March.

Ayala has suffered from long-term niggling injuries before, but his importance to the current Boro side could hardly be more pronounced. Seven of the Teessiders’ eight league wins this season have come with the Spaniard in the starting side – he came off the bench in the other – and since he injured his ankle in January’s win at Preston, Boro have failed to win in eight successive matches.

“I can make changes at the minute, but I’ve got still got two big players out in Ayala and (Patrick) Roberts,” said Woodgate. “We haven’t won since Ayala’s been out of the team.

“Ayala has been a big miss. He’s a top player and hopefully we’ll get him back soon. I need players to be available who maybe aren’t at 100 per cent – maybe only 90 per cent or 85 per cent. I need them to play.”

Ayala is due to become a free agent at the end of the season, and while Boro are understood to have offered the centre-half a new deal, it currently remains unsigned.