WOLVES will be prepared to sell Ryan Giles to Middlesbrough this summer – provided they remain in the Premier League this season.

Giles’ loan spell at the Riverside is due to expire at the end of the current campaign, but Michael Carrick and the rest of Middlesbrough’s recruitment team are extremely keen to sign the 23-year-old on a permanent basis.

An initial round of talks took place between Boro officials and senior figures at Wolves during the January transfer window, and while the Molineux hierarchy ruled out a permanent transfer at that stage, a line of communication remains open between the two clubs.

Boro’s desire to push through a permanent deal for their current first-choice left-back remains as strong as ever, and the indications from the Midlands are that Wolves will be willing to discuss a deal in the summer provided they avoid relegation in the next three months. Julen Lopetegui’s side currently occupy 15th position in the top-flight table, three points clear of the drop zone.

Assuming they remain in the Premier League, Lopetegui will be more than happy to go into next season with Rayan Ait-Nouri and Huge Bueno as his two left-back options. The pair, who have shared the left-back starting spot this season, are aged 21 and 20 respectively, and Lopetegui sees them as exciting long-term prospects.

If they are battling out for a starting spot in the Premier League again this season, Wolves will be willing to discuss a price for Giles, who is contracted to Molineux until the summer of 2025.

However, if Wolves were to be relegated this season, they would almost certainly look to cash in on one or both of Ait-Nouri and Bueno, meaning they would want to restore Giles to their squad in the Championship.

The full-back has been in excellent form with Middlesbrough this season, with his impact at both ends of the pitch proving a major factor in the club’s ongoing promotion battle. His tally of seven assists is the joint-second highest in the Championship this season, one behind his new team-mate, Dan Barlaser, who claimed eight during his time with Rotherham United.

Boro’s left-back options will increase during the summer as Hayden Coulson is due to return from his current loan spell at Scottish side Aberdeen, with Carrick having confirmed that he wants to run the rule over the Gateshead-born 24-year-old during pre-season.

Marc Bola is another squad member who can slot in at left-back, but Giles is regarded as the current number one choice by some distance, hence the Boro hierarchy’s strong desire to secure him on a permanent deal.

Giles is unlikely to be short of offers if Wolves decide to sell in the summer, but he has clearly enjoyed his time on Teesside and is likely to be receptive to the offer of a more permanent switch to the North-East.

Speaking in a recent interview on the A Swift Word video series on Middlesbrough’s official YouTube channel, Giles said: “You’ll hear the manager talk a lot about morale and how together the whole squad is instead of just being 11 individuals on the pitch. A lot of us, we do mingle outside of here as well, with our partners as well.

“I do think that’s massively important, and I think you can sense that - when we score goals, for example, you see how we celebrate. There is a good togetherness within the group. I’d say it is really good.

“We all have our group chat, but our partners all have a group chat together as well, which is good. We’ll all go for food together and things like that, dependent on when we’re playing obviously. But when we can, we do squeeze that kind of thing in.

“When I first signed, I knew a couple of the lads here already and it just felt like the right fit. Obviously, we’ve had a lot of change, but I still think at the start, we were playing well but results just weren’t going our way. We’ve then had that chance and kicked on really well. Looking at it at the time, this is what I was hoping was going to happen.”