Middlesbrough’s Hayden Hackney is attracting plenty of interest from the Premier League
The Middlesbrough midfielder, Hayden Hackney, is expected to be in high demand this summer as many Premier League teams are keeping a close eye on him. Two more clubs were revealed this past weekend.
West Ham and Nottingham Forest both had scouts at the Riverside last weekend as Boro lost to Bristol City, according to a report by Alan Nixon in the Sun. Both teams were there to watch the Boro academy graduate. Prior to the summer, these are the two most recent names associated with the 21-year-old star; other teams reportedly interested include Tottenham, Liverpool, and Newcastle United.
Following his amazing breakthrough season previous year, Hackney has once again been a star for Boro. Last summer, he committed to the Riverside with a new long-term deal that will keep him there until June 2027. According to a report in The Sun, West Ham sees him as a possible replacement for Kalvin Phillips, who is presently on loan from Manchester City to the Hammers but is having form issues.
“You talk about ambition and wanting to get to the Premier League, you can’t be losing players like Hayden,” said Kieran Scott, Boro’s head of football, in reference to the midfielder and possible interest from top division teams.
“He’s a local boy from Redcar who we want to keep ar
ound because he loves the club and wants to stay.” I can’t be naive; teams will come if he keeps improving at this rate and outgrows us. With Rav, I believe we might have the same thing. We occasionally need to check up with these two athletes because we don’t want to watch them go away.
You receive calls and inquiries about our athletes, to which they respond angrily, ‘Go away!’ They also want to know what they’re like as males, though. It would be naive to believe that Hayden hasn’t attracted the attention of Premier League teams; of course he has. I am aware that Hayden, a local youngster who aspires to play for Middlesbrough, is not in a rush.”
Unfortunately, though, Michael Carrick will be without his best player for a while. After Saturday’s triumph against Leicester City, which he and Jonny Howson missed, Hackney, who sustained a knee injury in last week’s loss at Preston North End, acknowledged that it didn’t appear to be getting better.
