Hull City vice-chairman provides updates on Middlesbrough FC and Blackburn Rovers targets

Speculation has been rife regarding a host of City players so far this summer, with a major departure having seen Jacob Greaves leave the club to join Premier League outfit Ipswich Town.

Winger Jaden Philogene is set to return to Aston Villa in a buy-back arrangement with Hull effectively forced to cash in on some star assets to comply with Financial Fair Play regulations after unsuccessfully pushing the boat out last season in a failed attempt to reach the Premier League.

He is expected to be confirmed as a Villa player shortly on a five-year deal.

Meanwhile, there has also been much speculation surrounding left-back Giles, just weeks after he joined on a permanent basis from Luton Town.

City bought Giles to the club on loan in January and had an obligation to buy the player in the summer window for £4m, as part of the original deal which took him to the MKM Stadium on loan.

Middlesbrough - where Giles spent a very successful loan spell in 2022-23 - have been linked with a move.

Uncertainty regarding the future of Giles came to the fore on the back of recent comments made by chairman Acun Ilicali which suggested that the 24-year-old - who has signed a three-year contract - could leave if he wanted to go.

But Kesler has confirmed that the club, ideally, would like to keep him.

Speaking to the BBC, he said: “I want Ryan to be part of the leadership group and be proud of this organisation and us and take us to the next level. He is capable of doing that. As a personality, he is amazing, his ability is exceptional and he’s proven.

"Because of the nature of our culture in Hull and our family culture, it takes time for players to acclimatise. I think he’s finished his acclimatisation. I’ve seen him in our first friendly game; he was more confident and expressive about himself. I don’t expect to see him leaving us or want to leave us.

"If he’s going to leave, it needs to be a significant persuasion for us. But Acun and I are very confident he should stay."

On the interest in a number of the club’s players, with the likes of Jean Michael Seri, Ryan Longman and Jason Lokilo having been linked with moves, Kesler remains comfortable.

He confirmed that the club have had a concrete offer from overseas for Irish defender McLoughlin, also said to be on the wanted list of Blackburn Rovers.

Kesler continued: “I am so happy as it shows what a good process we have. We develop these players and put them in the market and a lot of clubs are interested.

"When we came in, we said we don’t want to sell any of our players and our chairman said it openly and I’m advocate to it. But if the players want to go, we are more than happy to understand what the market is. All these links for us are justification of how well (good) job we have done. We have never put any price to our players.

"There is interest in Sean and Ryan (Longman). But for me, especially for Ryan, he’s coming back from a very successful season in my opinion and we’ve invested in him and he should - and he will - that our return on our investment (is) this season.

"I have spoken to him and he’s very focused, knowing the fact we expect well from him this season. But it;s no secret clubs are coming in and asking and showing an interest in him. But for us, he should stay.

"(There’s) Nothing concrete, only Sean - an official offer from abroad.”