Leeds United have been linked with a move for Ola Aina ahead of the January transfer window...

What's the word?

According to Italian newspaper Tuttosport (via Sport Witness), the Whites are expected to come forward with an offer to sign the Torino wing-back as his contract is set to expire in the summer.

That means the Yorkshire outfit are able to tie him down to a pre-contract agreement from January 1st but the Serie A outfit could look to offload him in January in a bid to garner some sort of fee.

Elland Road now seems a likely destination, whether that's next month or in the summer.

Bye-bye Ayling?

The 26-year-old is well-known in England. Having come through the renowned Chelsea academy system, the versatile wing-back has also played for Fulham and Hull City across both the Premier League and the Championship.

He has now made something of a name for himself in Italy, emerging as one of Il Toro's regular starters, largely owing to his ability to play on both the left and the right.

Aina is currently the club's best performer in the league, averaging a WhoScored rating of 6.74 - only forward Demba Seck is averaging more dribbles per game, whilst he's more than pulling his weight defensively with 1.3 tackles per game too.

Such versatility and ability on the ball has seen former teammate Cristian Ansaldi sing his praises in the past, claiming: "I see him very often. He has an intelligence that allows him to play in many positions, then physically he is an animal, more or less like [Wilfried] Singo."

Perhaps his potential arrival could spell the end for one of Marcelo Bielsa's long-standing favourites in vice-captain Luke Ayling who, despite his return from injury this season, has struggled to get into Jesse Marsch's starting XI ahead of summer signing Rasmus Kristensen.

Indeed, the Leeds stalwart has started just one game this campaign - a 3-2 defeat to Fulham - with the rest of his minutes coming from the bench. Ever since his red card against Arsenal last season - an incident that was brandished both "disappointing" and "disgusting" by the media - he has never really been in favour with the American manager again.

You'd imagine that any move for another player in his role would surely spell the end of his career at Elland Road because it'll only make it harder for him to break into the side.

Torino wanted just €12m (£10m) for Aina during the summer, so that price will surely have to come down if they are going to lose him in the summer for nothing anyway and that would make him even more of a bargain.

As a result, Marsch may well finally ditch Ayling from west Yorkshire, should he successfully secure a deal for the Nigeria international this January.

AND in other news, Orta "set to begin" talks with "dangerous" £35m Leeds "beast", it's great for Marsch...