Everton have been linked with a potential move for Middlesbrough midfielder Hayden Hackney
Everton have been linked with a move for Middlesbrough’s Hayden Hackney but what could the newly crowned Championship Player of the Season potentially bring to the Blues?
Receiving his gong in London at the EFL awards at Mayfair’s Grosvenor Hotel, the midfielder said on Sunday night: “It’s been chaos this season if I’m being honest, but we had a good result today (drawing 2-2 at Ipswich Town with the hosts equalising twice, including with an 87th minute penalty), unlucky not getting three points, and hopefully we can get back up there.
“I grew up watching this club, going to the games just a normal fan, and then being able to put on that shirt and play at The Riverside is unbelievable. There’s a little bit more responsibility because of that, but I enjoy it.
“I’ve got to thank Kim (manager Kim Hellberg) coming in so much, along with all the coaching staff. I think he’s given me that almost freedom just to go and express myself, and do what I do best, almost giving me the freedom to be more attacking.”
A report by TEAMtalk claims Everton have emerged as leading contenders to sign Hackney with their understanding that the Blues' recruitment team are huge admirers of him. The piece adds that Everton have been tracking Hackney’s progress for a long time with the same outlet first revealing their interest back in December, which they say “still remains strong”.
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Their transfer insider Graeme Bailey said: “More than half the Premier League are following Hackney.
“Everton are one of those who have been watching in recent weeks. A lot of midfielders are due to move this summer, and Hackney will likely be part of that.”
Born on June 26, 2002, the day that Ronaldo’s goal gave Brazil a 1-0 win over Turkey in their World Cup semi-final in Saitama, Hackney joined Middlesbrough’s academy after being spotted for nearby home town club Redcar Town. After making his senior debut in a 2-1 FA Cup third round defeat at Brentford on January 9, 2021, he spent the following season on loan at Scunthorpe United, making 31 appearances but being unable to prevent the Lincolnshire outfit from dropping out of the Football League.
In total, he’s played 153 times for Boro so far, scored 16 goals and provided 17 assists. This season he’s turned out 40 times, scoring five times and producing eight assists.
Just what sort of midfielder is the player who has been capped 13 times by England Under-21s but is also eligible to qualify for Scotland through his Edinburgh-born mother? According to Comparisonator’s player profile, Hackney is very much a ‘maestro’, scoring 9 out of 10 in that category, for someone who is a technically advanced midfielder, who controls the rhythm and direction of the game through passing quality and vision, while he comes in at 7.7 as a box-to-box midfielder and 5.6 for a ‘disruptor’ midfielder.
In terms of current Premier League players that he’s like, Chelsea pair Enzo Fernandez (90%) and Moises Caicedo (81%) are calculated as being the closest matches in terms of similarity, followed by Bruno Guimaraes of Newcastle United (78%). Along with his creativity, though, Hackney is also a grafter and is no luxury player, as his physical parameters show.
We can use Comparisonator’s Virtual Transfer tool to correlate the 23-year-old’s statistics from the Championship this season against those playing in his position in the Premier League. Hackney covers an average of 11.745km per 90 minutes, which is a greater total distance than the top flight’s leading trio of Leeds United’s Ethan Ampadu (11.519km); the aforementioned Guimaraes (11.263km) and Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson (10.814km).
He isn’t afraid to pop the question either and is shooting more than any of his Premier League peers with an average of 2.19 shots per 90 minutes, ahead of Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes (2) and Manchester City duo Tijjani Reiijnders (1.75) and Phil Foden (1.63), but when it comes to shots on target his figure of 0.65 would rank him fourth in a category topped by Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez (0.75).
Hackney’s assists figure per 90 minutes of 0.19 would place him fourth in the Premier League behind leader Fernandes (0.33) while he’d be ranked ninth for expected goals (xG), on 0.14 with the same Manchester United player also heading that chart on 0.41. The Riverside Stadium favourite also likes to carry the ball with 3.42 dribbles per 90 minutes, a category where everyone in the Premier League averages less than 2 other than leader Matheus Mane of Wolverhampton Wanderers (4.15), and it’s the same order for successful dribbles with Hackney on 1.81 and Mane on 2.
Hackney is also impressive with his distribution as not only is he making more passes (64.73 per 90 minutes) than Premier League leader Declan Rice of Arsenal (57.15), he is completing more successful passes (55.65) than Caicedo (52), who is at the top flight’s summit in that section. Only Fernandes (2.61) is putting in more crosses than Hackney’s 1.77, but the Boro man drops to fourth for successful crosses (0.62) with the Portuguese player again leading the way on 0.83.
Hayden Hackney's successful passes statistics for Middlesbrough this season in the Championship compared to Premier League players in his position
Hayden Hackney's successful passes statistics for Middlesbrough this season in the Championship compared to Premier League players in his position
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With Idrissa Gueye turning 37 in September and out of contract this summer – there is an option to trigger an extra year on his Everton deal – Hackney looks like another potential rough diamond from the Championship that David Moyes could polish up into an accomplished Premier League performer if he could win the inevitable battle for his signature.
If Middlesbrough, who currently sit fifth in the table, fail to win promotion, the timing looks right on this one given that the player only has a year left on his contract and that at just a few weeks shy of his 24th birthday, he is a similar age to Tim Cahill and Joleon Lescott when Moyes plucked them from the second tier and brought them to Merseyside or Jarrod Bowen who he snapped up from Hull City for West Ham United.
*Comparisonator is a football data comparison tool from 271 professional leagues around the world which compares players and clubs by utilising an industry leading 378 different parameters. Click here for more details.