Shota Arveladze reveals why Hull City striker Mallik Wilks will not play at Middlesbrough

Mallik Wilks will not be involved at Middlesbrough on Saturday, Hull City boss Shota Arveladze has confirmed, as the striker continues to recover from a series of injuries suffered this season.

Wilks has recovered from a foot injury that kept him sidelined for a lengthy period of time having picked up his problem at Nottingham Forest before Christmas and continues to take a full part in training at the Tigers’ Cottingham base.

The 23-year-old returned off the bench in the win at Peterborough United last month, but hasn’t featured since, and with Wilks out of contract this summer, speculation is mounting about his future with no decision understood to have been taken yet about his or the other seven players seeing their deals come to an end.

Arveladze, speaking to Hull Live ahead of Saturday’s trip to the Riverside Stadium, says Wilks will not be considered for selection at this stage. "He’s been out for quite a long time when I arrived, I spoke to him two or three times. I thought we had a really good understanding but again, this is daily, we have to go every day, every session and game (and see what happens).

“Mallik’s a fantastic lad, a really good boy. I’m waiting for him to get really fit and I’ll talk to him, maybe, we need his energy and speed back. That’s what I’ve not seen yet. One week he was good, winter came back and he was ill again. It’s also luck, sometimes, it could help us both.

“It’s difficult for them to get back in shape. It is frustrating because you want everyone to be available and make your decisions tougher. He can play as the main striker, second striker, off the wing.

“With the body he has, if you get a tear in his thigh or his hamstring, it really pulls and I know this, my teammates