Middlesbrough have been urged to re-sign a former player previously labelled as ‘terrific’ by Michael Carrick.
Middlesbrough will have promotion aspirations for the 2024/25 Championships campaign after narrowly missing out on the play-offs last time out.
Boro’s 2023/24 season was littered with disappointment after they missed out on the top six by just four points.
A run of just four wins in 15 league games between December and February saw Michael Carrick’s side slip into the bottom half of the table and any hopes of automatic promotion dashed.
Boro went on to lose one of their final 12 Championship games in the remainder of the campaign – a 4-3 defeat at the hands of bitter rivals Leeds United – but it proved too little too late and the club are once again gearing up for another season in England’s second tier.
Middlesbrough have already begun preparation for a promotion push in the forthcoming campaign with Luke Ayling joining on a free transfer from Leeds and Aidan Morris set to make a switch from the MLS, but there is still work to be done on Teesside.
One of Middlesbrough’s main issues in 2023/24 was they lost a lot of their key stars from the previous campaign. Chuba Akpom made a move to Ajax following a 29-goal season, while several players returned to their parent clubs after loan spells.
One such player was left-back Ryan Giles, who joined then-Premier League outfit Luton Town on a permanent transfer following a successful loan spell with the Teessiders.
Middlesbrough urged to sign ‘terrific’ player from rival club
Giles provided an impressive 11 assists in 45 Championship outings for the North East outfit, earning high praise from Carrick, who labelled the 24-year-old as terrific:
“He’s been terrific, and he was quite ill actually at the start of the week,” Carrick said of Giles in March 2023.
“He was touch and go on whether he was going to make it, so credit to him for getting himself into a place where he was able to play.
“His attributes – being so quick and such a good left foot – make him a big part of our attacking structure and strategy.”
Giles has found it hard to replicate that form following his exit from the Riverside, struggling in the top flight with Luton and on loan at Hull in the second half of last season.
Despite this, Boro have been credited with an interest in making a move for the Englishman in the current window – this time on a permanent basis, with talkSPORT journalist Phil Spencer also recently urging the Teessiders to make a move for Giles, labelling the decision as a ‘no brainer’:
“Signing Ryan Giles is an absolute no-brainer for Middlesbrough, if the opportunity does arise this summer,” Spencer told Football League World.
“Obviously, he’d spent a season on loan with the club during the 2022/23 season, and he was absolutely brilliant for Michael Carrick’s team. He contributed 12 assists over the course of the campaign, offered a real outlet on the left flank, and was really the main source of width within our team in an attacking sense.
“He is maybe a little bit more of an advanced option than Engel, and that’s maybe something that will, as it stands at the moment, that we’ll be looking to see more of next season, but I think in terms of Ryan Giles, he does offer something very different to both of those players.”
Giles has not been at his best since leaving the North East, but working under Carrick once again could be just what the 24-year-old’s career needs.