Leeds United have been linked with a move to sign Middlesbrough’s star midfielder Hayden Hackney this month.
United’s transfer strategy is going to depend completely on what division the club are playing in next season. Daniel Farke will be hoping that he can secure Premier League status for a second season running.
In the meantime, it’s unsurprising that links to potential signings are already emerging. Most of them, given it’s mid-February, aren’t worth entertaining.
Leeds United ‘linked’ with move to sign Middlesbrough’s star man Hayden Hackney – £30m asking price reported
In Leeds’ position, if we’re to stay up, there ought to be some consideration into the best of the Championship’s current crop.
Middlesbrough midfielder Hayden Hackney certainly falls into that category. Journalist Alan Nixon reported this month that Leeds are interested in signing the Riverside star when the summer window opens.
During the January window, it was also claimed that Boro would be looking for a fee in the region of £30million for Hackney.
Since then, he’s helped Kim Hellberg’s side to the top two of the Championship. They briefly held onto top spot, but were cut back down to size by Coventry City on Monday night.
Coventry City 3-1 Middlesbrough proves why Leeds United would be wasting money on Hayden Hackney
I already held this opinion about Hackney before his performance on Monday night against Coventry. He wouldn’t be a good signing for Leeds, especially at that ludicrous price.
Hackney is without question a great player, technically superb and is one of ‘Boro’s driving forces in this promotion charge.
But, as we’ve soon learned with Ao Tanaka falling out of favour, being a great conductor in the Championship doesn’t mean you’ll be a viable player to dominate games in the Premier League.
The 23-year-old had his chance to prove he was better than the rest as ‘Boro travelled to Coventry. What followed was Frank Lampard’s high-pressing game plan working to a tee against Hackney’s side in a 3-1 home win thanks to Haji Wright’s hattrick.
If you glanced at the stats, Hackney still looked a world-beater. 114 touches, 85 passes completed, six key passes is strong in such a heavyweight Championship clash. But, that’s not the sort of midfielder Leeds are going to be after.
This focus on being horrid to play against, robust without possession, and physically very powerful is not Hackney’s game.
Leeds are not in a position, should we stay up, to throw the playbook out of the window that’s got us to this point. Going from platforming Anton Stach and Ethan Ampadu to spending £30million on Hackney would represent terrible mis-profiling of what we’re trying to build here.
Conversely, if Leeds are after a more technical midfielder, it’s going to be someone who can operate in the same role as Brenden Aaronson. An 8-10 hybrid – like Martin Baturina – that adds regular goals, which isn’t Hackney.
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