Town chief knew it would be too much for every new addition to work out after record signing Giles left for Hull

A realistic Hatters boss Rob Edwards knew it would have been a huge ask for all of his 13 summer signings to work out perfectly as record signing Ryan Giles left Kenilworth Road after just six months with the club this week

The 24-year-old had joined in a fee believed to be around £5m in July when signing from Wolverhampton Wanderers, a place he had worked with Edwards before, when the Luton chief was in charge of the U23s, as with Giles in the team, they won promotion to Premier League Two Division One.

Prior to that, it was Edwards who gave Giles his first taste of senior football when in charge of AFC Telford United during the 2017-18 season, managing to avoid relegation from National League North thanks to two goals and seven assists in nine matches from the new boy. With that in mind, and the new signing arriving in Bedfordshire having recorded the joint most assists in the Championship last term when on loan at Middlesbrough, it was meant to be a match made in heaven for the pair.

it didn’t quite turn out that way though, as although he played the first three Premier League games, the former England youth international failed to really showcase the kind of form he had displayed at the Riverside, losing his place after the 2-1 home defeat to West Ham, and could only watch as Alfie Doughty hit the ground running, with some terrific performances on the left flank as he has gone from strength to strength since, with his set-pieces now feared by all top flight defences. With his team-mate excelling, it meant Giles was restricted to just over four hours of Premier League football, as he headed out to Hull City on loan, the Tigers having an option to make the move permanent at the end of the season.

On his departure, Edwards said: “We always want things to be perfect. We brought 13 players in in the summer and for all 13 of them to work out amazingly well, perfectly well, we’re probably asking too much there. Gilo’s a brilliant lad, we’ve got a really good relationship, we’ve worked together at two different clubs previously, it was important that for him and the club this is the right thing to do. I didn’t want to stand in his way for this opportunity that he had and I felt it was the right thing for the football club as well. So it made sense, and of course we wish him well as he’s played an important part in this first half of the season and I’ll keep in touch with him going forward.”

A lack of game time was to prove key, with Edwards also stating after the 3-1 defeat at Brentford that he didn’t see Giles as a wingback due to question marks over his defending, but rather as a winger instead. However, when the opportunity arose to play there at Burnley recently, the boss went with Jordan Clark in the wide left role, as on never fully being able to nail down a role in the team, Edwards added: “I think it was just difficult that other people have performed really, really well.

"He’s still played games, played against Manchester City, had a really good performance, the win at Sheffield United, he came on for half a game against Newcastle in the win as well, so he still played an important role. But not everyone can play and this is just the right decision for us as a football club and Ryan as well. I stress that we really do wish him all the best and nothing but success going forward.”