DURING his six years as Liverpool manager, Rafael Benitez made a succession of signings from Spain. Some, such as the moves that took Fernando Torres, Xabi Alonso and Pepe Reina to Anfield, were unqualified successes. Others, such as the deals for Josemi, Antonio Nunez and Fernando Morientes, turned out to be rather less well received.

And then there was the arrival of a succession of youngsters who figured briefly within the Anfield youth system before disappearing from trace, with the majority never being seen or heard of again. Antonio Barragan? Gabriel Palletta? Daniele Padelli? Even hardcore Liverpool fans will struggle to remember those.

For the best part of six years, the name of Daniel Ayala could be included on that list. Signed as a 15-year-old by Benitez, having been plucked from the youth team at Sevilla, Ayala made two senior starts for Liverpool before it was determined that he did not have what it would take to succeed at the club.

He was moved on to Norwich City, for around £750,000, but still his career did not ignite. Nine senior starts at Carrow Road preceded an unremarkable loan spell at Nottingham Forest, and in the eyes of most observers, another unsuccessful introduction to English football was coming to an end.

“The first year in particular at Liverpool was very hard,” said Ayala. “I wouldn’t say it was a nightmare because there were still parts of it that I enjoyed, but it was really hard. I didn’t know any English, and none of my family was here.

“I was just 15 years old, and people maybe don’t realise how hard it is to make such a big change at such a young age. You gradually start getting used to it, but it takes time.

“I enjoyed my time at Liverpool, and feel glad that I went there. I only played five games, but I’m really proud of what I did because there aren’t many people who can say they played for Liverpool.

“It’s only really when you move to a different club that you realise just how big Liverpool was. I look at that time and feel like I learned a lot. It taught me how to be a proper player and was a good learning curve to have.”

Prior to last October, it also looked like being the highlight of Ayala’s career. A loan move to Middlesbrough offered a final chance for the defender to draw a line under the Liverpool experience and prove he could still succeed in the English game.

Suffice to say, he has grasped it with both hands. Two-and-a-half months after the start of his loan spell, and he was completing a permanent move to the Riverside for around £350,000.

He has now made 38 senior appearances for the Teessiders, and while Aitor Karanka likes to chop and change the various components of his back four, it is telling that Ayala has started all of Boro’s last ten league games.

“I always had confidence in myself, but when you are injured as much as I was over the last couple of years, it’s very difficult,” he said. “When you are only playing a couple of games and then you get injured again, it can be tough.

“When people don’t see you playing, they might think, ‘Well he’s not that good’, but I always had confidence in what I could do. In the last two or three years, I was injured most of the time and couldn’t even play 12 or 15 games in a season. It’s quite difficult when that is happening. When you are playing every week, then you can show what you are made of.”

It also helps when you can work under a manager with extensive top-level experience of playing at centre-half. Karanka’s playing career is often overlooked in a rush to discuss his relationship with Jose Mourinho and backroom experience at Real Madrid, but Boro’s head coach was one of the finest centre-halves in La Liga for a spell, winning a Spanish title and three Champions League crowns during his time in the Spanish capital.

“I can remember watching him quite well, and I don’t think people really realise just how good a player he was,” said Ayala. “I supported Real Madrid when I was growing up, so I watched him in a lot of games and always really liked the way he played.

“He was someone with a lot of quality on the ball, a defender who wasn’t scared of being in possession. When he first came and did some work with us on the training ground, you could see that quality straight away. I was only young when I was watching him, but I remember seeing him playing alongside Fernando Hierro and that was quite a defence.”

Karanka’s playing experience has clearly aided him when it comes to running defensive drills on the training ground, and just as George Friend and Ben Gibson have spoken of the Spaniard’s coaching sessions in glowing terms recently, so Ayala is also delighted to be benefiting from the wisdom of such a decorated former centre-half.

“As a defender, it is fantastic to be able to work with the manager and he has done so much to help me and the other defenders with our game,” he said. “He was a defender himself, so obviously you listen to him even more.

“We spend a lot of time working on the way we defend, and the manager has a lot of input into that, and I think that work is showing. We all have a lot of respect for him. He’s a very strong character and he keeps everybody on their toes.”