DANIEL Ayala must have been rubbing his hands with joy when Aitor Karanka was appointed Middlesbrough head coach a year ago, but it didn’t take long for the defender to realise that having your homeland in common with a new manager isn’t always a good thing.

The Spanish defender arrived at the Riverside Stadium two days after Tony Mowbray was sacked, but it didn’t take long for him to make an impact with some impressive displays under caretaker Mark Venus.

It had been a risky move to join the Teessiders given the fact a predecessor had not yet been named, but any doubts must have vanished when Steve Gibson appointed fellow Spaniard Karanka.

Indeed, Ayala kept his place in the side for the former Real Madrid assistant’s first game in charge at Leeds United, but soon after he realised that being one of two Spanish speaking players in the squad had it drawbacks.

“When I arrived here he was playing good,” Karanka recalls. “My first two games he didn't play really well maybe because the only player who understood me perfectly was him and I gave him all the bollockings.

“I think it was bad for him because his character is the kind of player who sometimes needs more support.

“He was a very good player then but now he is more confident and again I can explain to him every single thing that I want on the pitch and the most important thing for a player is to be confident and now he is confident.

“I don't have a doubt that he is a Premier League central defender, he has everything, but he is the kind of player you have to manage in the right way because before I came here he had a lot of injuries, he didn't play a lot of games.”

The arrivals of Kike, Damia Abella and Tomas Mejias lifted the pressure of Ayala and it seems to have worked wonders.

The 23-year-old has enjoyed a strong start to the season and the Spaniard appears to have cemented his place as Karanka’s first choice centre-back having featured in 15 of Boro’s 17 games.

It is a welcome change for the Sevilla youth product, who found himself limited to bit-part roles at Liverpool and Norwich City, but now he feels part of something special on Teesside.

“I am happy with how things are going,” Ayala said. “There’s a lot of hard work that goes on that people don’t see.

“Since last year when the new manager came in, there has been a lot of hard work in pre-season and now it is looking really good for us.

“When you play almost every game you feel like a bigger part of the team. I played at Liverpool and when you don’t play week in week out you don’t really feel part of the team and that’s why I had to go out on loan.

“Now I’m at Middlesbrough and I’m playing almost every game. That’s what every footballer wants and I’m just happy to be in this position.

“I think everyone knows what the manager wants from them. He will spell out 100 per cent what we need to do in every game and then tells you what you have done well.

“Obviously you’re not going to play well in every game, but you have to be consistent.

“Sometimes it (sharing nationality with a manager) can work against you.

“I didn’t think just because he was a Spanish manager that it would be good for me. I just thought I needed to play my best and I think I’ve been doing that because I’m playing in every game. Hopefully it can continue.

“It has helped me that he is Spanish. Maybe we have a bigger connection because we both speak Spanish and he can tell me what he wants from me.”

Middlesbrough go into this afternoon’s game at Rotherham two points off the top of the Championship. Their form in the first part of the season has put them in a position to challenge for promotion and having got a taste for Premier League footballer during his spells at Anfield and Carrow Road, Ayala is hungry for more.

“Everyone wants to play in the Premier League, that's the main thing,” he said. “It doesn't matter how much money you earn when you retire all you want is to say 'I played 200 games in the Premier League' so it's what everyone wants and hopefully we can achieve it.

“We are working really hard, that's the most important thing. People who aren't playing are working even harder than those who are so everyone is pushing each other.

“I think we've got a good chance but we need to go game by game, work hard in training and see where we finish.”