Ryan Giles may leave Hull City: Birmingham City, QPR and Middlesbrough should be on red alert | OneFootball

FLW takes a look at three Championship clubs who should be following Giles' situation with strong interest

The prospect of Ryan Giles departing Hull City should leave Birmingham City, QPR and Middlesbrough ready to pounce.

Hull initially framed Giles as their long-term option for left-back, paying £4m for his services last summer after triggering an option in his loan move from Luton Town.

However, the 25-year-old made just 11 league starts before his mid-season return to Middlesbrough.

Giles has mentioned that unless he's "told otherwise", he will fight for his place with the Tigers, but with this in mind, FLW takes a look at three Championship clubs who should be following Giles' situation with strong interest.

1 Birmingham City

Blues' head coach, Chris Davies, remains publicly adamant that he needs another left-back following Lee Buchanan's long-term injury, and concerns about burning out Alex Cochrane.

Davies has also voiced reservations about using former Derby County favourite Eiran Cashin in the left-back role, branding that scenario "pretty much a last resort," due to him not being very experienced in that position.

During his first spell on loan at Boro in the 22/23 season, Giles managed 11 assists in the Championship. This shows he's more than capable of adding quality to second-tier games, something Blues need when Cochrane isn't available.

It was this temporary stint that saw him get an expected assist per 90 stat of 0.27, which basically means he was expected to get an assist nearly every three games.

Not to underestimate his quality, but Cochrane has never managed more than five assists in the league in his career - he got five with Hearts the same year Giles got 11 - 22/23.

3 Queens Park Rangers

Kenneth Paal was the R's mainstay at left-back since 2022, and has since signed in Turkey for Antalyaspor following the expiration of his contract in West London.

Another full-back that departed at the end of 24/25 was Newcastle United loanee Harrison Ashby, who, although primarily a right-back, featured on the left 29 times in the league for Rangers last season.

With two first-teamers departing, it does seem likely that the current starting option used by Julien Stephan will be 22-year-old Ziyad Larkeche, who signed a new contract with QPR at the start of summer.

Larkeche joined the R's from Fulham in 2023, and spent last season on loan at Dundee FC, finishing second bottom in the Scottish Premiership (11th).

Even though the Frenchman scored three goals and managed the same amount of assists for Dundee in the league, the only competition he has for the left-back spot at QPR is Esquerdinha - a 19-year-old Brazilian who was signed for their development squad in February.

At 25, Ryan Giles would offer healthy competition to Larkeche for left-back - and the R's need more proven bodies there ever since Paal and Ashby exited.

In January, Giles described his second return to the Riverside as "a no-brainer" and openly admitted he would "love to" turn the loan into a permanent move.

Yes, he struggled to make any sort of strong impact like 22/23, but left-back has been somewhat of an achilles heel for Boro since Giles first departed.

Neto Borges hasn't exactly replicated that sort of top creativity either. The Brazilian had 3 assists in 35 appearances last season - he arrived for an undisclosed fee from Clermont Foot, who he finished bottom in Ligue 1 with.

Giles occupies a sweet spot that few full-backs in the football league can offer, in that he's young enough for resale upside, but experienced enough to impact games immediately.

Whether he stays at Hull remains to be seen, but Birmingham City, QPR and Boro each have good reasons to already be monitoring Giles' situation.