It’s been 18 months in the making but finally, Ryan Giles is a Middlesbrough player once more.

After attempts in each of the last two summer transfer windows and four alternative left-backs since his loan move at the Riverside came to an end in May 2023, Giles is back. He arrived on Thursday from Hull City in a loan deal until the end of the season and will be able to make his second debut on Saturday at Preston North End.

There are two big talking points emerging from Giles’ Boro return. The first is a debate many a Boro fan has had in recent weeks as it emerged the club were in talks again to try and re-sign the 24-year-old. It’s quite simply, why? Why, after 18 difficult months since his first Boro loan came to an end, have Boro been so keen to bring him back?

READ MORE: Michael Carrick's Emmanuel Latte Lath deadline warning after transfer offer to Middlesbrough

READ MORE: Michael Carrick's George Edmundson transfer admission as Middlesbrough close in on deal

Secondly, after the deal between Boro and Hull was completed on Thursday, the main questions many are now asking are: Why is it only a loan deal? And why is there no option-to-buy included?

As far as the first talking point is concerned, this is Boro backing Michael Carrick. The head coach has stayed in contact with the left-back since his Boro exit, and has been desperate to reunite with him at the Riverside - even more so given that none of the left-backs since have quite managed to achieve what Giles did for Carrick in that special run to the play-offs.

When assessing Giles, there’s often a focus on what he isn’t so good at, instead of what he is. A real attacking outlet, he provided 12 assists during his season on Teesside. While he had defensive deficiencies, so too have the other left-back options since, which is as much to do with how Carrick sets his team up as anything else. Giles made the strengths outweigh the weaknesses though.

Of course, Giles has had a difficult 18 months since leaving Boro, first failing to make the grade at Luton in the Premier League before struggling to hit the heights he did at the Riverside in the last 12 months at Hull City. With that in mind, the reality is that, had he not had that past association with Boro, he’s unlikely to have been a player to feature on Boro’s target lists.

That, in turn, begins to explain the second talking point. Boro are said to be really happy with the deal they’ve negotiated with Hull. In a month where signing a left-back wasn’t their biggest priority, a loan deal has come at a smaller fee, while Giles himself is understood to have agreed to take a pay cut in order to complete his return. He’s been as desperate as Carrick to return.

In doing a loan deal, as well as limiting costs, it also offers Boro the opportunity to assess things over the next few months before a decision is made in the summer. There’s confidence that, should all go well, agreeing a deal at the end of the season shouldn’t prove difficult and would suit both parties.

So why is no option to buy included then? It’s largely in the complication of the deal. On a considerable wage at Hull, Boro didn’t want to pay that in full. With Hull already somewhat cutting their losses in sending him out on loan to Boro, trying to also negotiate a purchase option - which still in reality offers no guarantees - added an extra layer of complication to negotiations that have been tough, and that already broke down once in the summer.

They say never go back in football. But they also say sometimes certain clubs and managers just fit for certain players. It’s been a tough 18 months for Ryan Giles since leaving Boro. The hope over the next six months is that the latter of those two cliches proves true, with a longer term Riverside return to follow if all goes well.

There are, undoubtedly, questions for Giles to answer, and points for him to prove. Can he recover quickly from his difficult 18 months to recapture his best form? Can he be as effective for Boro without Chuba Akpom in the box to hit? For Carrick rather than Giles, the question is, can he make his side as defensively efficient and balanced as they were in Giles’s last spell at the club, to be able to cover his forward forays? We shall see.