Pontus Jansson has joked that he can understand why Leeds United sold him after seeing Luke Ayling's performances at centre-back.
The Whites' injury troubles at centre-back have seen Ayling shift across into the position from his natural right-back role, with Diego Llorente, Liam Cooper and Robin Koch all missing against Burnley.
Yet Leeds still kept a clean sheet in a 1-0 win as a makeshift back three of Ayling, Kalvin Phillips and Pascal Struijk defended resolutely. Another blank followed as the Whites reverted to a back-four with Ayling and Struijk in the middle for the 5-0 victory at West Brom.
Posting on Instagram after the Burnley game, Ayling said it was good to grind out the victory.
"Stood up to a tough test today," he said.
"Not always going to win pretty."
His post attracted a comment from former Leeds defender Jansson, who joked it was easy to see why he had been allowed to leave Elland Road.
The Sweden international wrote: "Understand why I had to leave when the RB is better CB than me haha love it bro".
In a game where the Whites struggled to impose their natural passing game on the opposition against Burnley, Ayling's ability on the ball from centre-back stood out.
The 29-year-old completed 54 passes, including one key pass, with nine of his 16 attempted long passes successful.
Defensively, Ayling won one tackle and completed three interceptions, also clearing the ball five times as he showed his worth at centre-back.
There was some surprise when Leeds opted to sell towering Swede Jansson to Brentford in 2019, with the former Torino centre-back having been a key player for the club.
Yet, without him, the Whites went on to win promotion to the Premier League and have had an impressive start to life back in the top flight.
