WOLVES are unlikely to make a final decision over Ryan Giles’ future until they have completed a pre-season tour of South Korea next month.

Middlesbrough are hoping to re-sign Giles following the left-back’s successful loan spell at the Riverside last season, with a series of discussions having already taken place to try to ascertain Wolves’ plans for the defender.

Michael Carrick would love to have Giles back on the left of his back four next term, with the 23-year-old having claimed 11 assists last season, the third-highest total in the whole of the Championship.

However, Boro are far from the only club to have expressed an interest in securing Giles’ services this summer, with Leicester City having joined the race for the full-back earlier this week.

New Leicester boss Enzo Maresca will be overseeing a radical reshaping of the Foxes’ squad following their relegation from the top-flight last season, and has identified Giles as a key defensive target.

As well as benefiting from Premier League parachute payments, Leicester are also set to receive a significant financial boost from the sale of James Maddison and Harvey Barnes in the next few weeks, meaning they will almost certainly be able to outbid Boro in terms of both a transfer fee if Wolves decide to sell and the wages that Giles would be offered.

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That does not necessarily mean that Boro are out of the race for the defender as Giles is known to have thoroughly enjoyed his time on Teesside last season and Carrick would hope to persuade him that if he returned to the North-East, he would be rejoining a side who are extremely well placed to push for promotion again next season.

All of that is dependent on Wolves agreeing to release Giles though, and a decision now looks unlikely ahead of the Molineux club’s forthcoming tour of South Korea.

Wolves are set to travel to the Far East in the second half of next month, with high-profile friendlies lined up against Celtic and Roma.

Julen Lopetegui is expected to retain his current squad for those matches, meaning a decision on Giles’ future would be shelved until the start of August at the earliest.

Wolves have a number of different left-back options on their books, with Hugo Bueno and Rayan Ait-Nouri having spent most of last season competing for the role. For most of last term, it had looked likely that Giles would be leaving this summer, however there have been suggestions in recent weeks that Ait-Nouri’s future could be in doubt amid strengthening interest from Nice. Clearly, any developments relating to Ait-Nouri could have an impact on Giles’ position at Molineux.

Boro, who continue to hold a strong interest in Newcastle United goalkeeper Karl Darlow, have alternative options at left-back, but would ideally like to see how things turn out with Giles before turning in a different direction.