New boy Hayden Hackney has made a bold goal proclamation for his first season in the Premier League after making his Everton debut.
The £16.5million signing from Middlesbrough made his Blues bow in their third pre-season friendly at the bet365 Stadium and played the first 45 minutes in central midfield before David Moyes’ men ultimately succumbed to a 1-0 defeat as Gabriel Kelly netted the only goal of the evening on the hour mark.
Professional footballers are often notoriously coy when it comes to outlining their personal targets in public but when asked what he was aiming for in terms of individual numbers for the forthcoming campaign, Hackney told the ECHO: “I want to get double figures joined together hopefully for goals and assists. That’s what I aim for, so we’ll see how that goes.
“I think I’m capable of slotting straight in. Obviously, I want to start games, and I think I can affect games.”
The Redcar-born midfielder turned out 154 times in total for local club Boro, netting 16 goals but given Moyes’ impressive pedigree of developing players from the second tier – like Tim Cahill, Joleon Lescott and Jarrod Bowen – the Championship Player of the Season explained how turning out for the Glaswegian gaffer and Everton's passionate fans ensured he always had his sights set on a move to Merseyside this summer.
Hackney said: “The gaffer’s record of bringing in players from the Championship and turning them into Premier League stars was part of the attraction for me. He’s done that in the past so hopefully I can do the same.
“The supporters are unbelievable. I’ve heard lots about them so I can’t wait to get into Hill Dickinson Stadium and hear them.”
With Everton Player of the Season James Garner injured and Idrissa Gueye now having left the club, it could be all change for the Blues in the centre of the park early in 2026/27. Hackney, who started alongside Harrison Armstrong with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall in a more advanced central midfield role was pleased with his outing.
The 24-year-old said: “I was delighted to get out there. I loved it.
“It’s been a long time coming. The first couple of weeks have just been training, but it was nice to get out there.
“I think getting some tidy touches early on helped to settle me down. Obviously, I’ve been training with the lads regularly now and it's just about building that understanding and tonight I could do that.
“It was just a precaution from the manager to take me off after 45 minutes, I think that was planned, obviously I haven’t played now since March (other than a 20-minute cameo off the bench in Middlesbrough's 1-0 Championship play-off final defeat to Hull City on May 23) so it was nice to get out there again.
“I enjoyed playing alongside Harrison, he’s a good player. I thought we linked up well at times and with Ki (Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall) as well, so we can hopefully build on that.
“The lads have been brilliant with me. I’ll be honest, they’ve made it so easy.
“Just training with them every day, that breaks the ice a lot. The senior lads especially have been great with me, so it’s been simple.”