JONATHAN WOODGATE is confident he has the defensive resources to cope without Daniel Ayala for the remainder of the season, with the Spaniard’s time as a Middlesbrough player having been brought to a premature end.

Ayala is due to become a free agent on June 30, and has turned down what is understood to have been a long-term contract offer on a number of occasions amid reported interest from Leeds United.

The centre-half has not signed a short-term disclaimer that would have enabled him to play beyond the end of this month and see out the current Championship campaign before leaving Teesside, with Woodgate having instructed him to stay away from the first-team squad.

Ayala remains eligible for Boro’s two matches before June 30 – this Saturday’s home game with Swansea City and the following weekend’s trip to Stoke – but Woodgate does not want to select him for those games if he is not going to feature in the Teessiders’ subsequent seven outings.

As a result, he looks certain to have played his final game in a Boro shirt, ending a career that started when he initially moved to Teesside on loan from Norwich City in 2013.

Ayala, who is no longer training at Rockliffe Park, has been a popular figure in the last seven years, although his time with Boro has not been without controversy. Aitor Karanka claimed his medical department “couldn’t find any reason” why Ayala could not play when the defender had declared himself injured in 2016, and Woodgate hinted earlier this season that the 29-year-old was not necessarily doing all he could to make himself available.

Ayala’s experience and physicality will be missed in the remaining games, but in Dael Fry, Harold Moukoudi and Ryan Shotton, Woodgate is confident he has sufficient options to plug the gap. George Friend could also play as a centre-half if Woodgate opted to play with five at the back.

Boro have six other first-team players out of contract at the end of the month, but there is not believed to be an issue with their availability for the next nine games.