How Steve Gibson feels about £10m Hayden Hackney, Everton transfer claim at Middlesbrough | OneFootball

The Championship Player of the Season's future on Teesside is in doubt

Middlesbrough's recent heartbreak in the Championship play-off final at the expense of Hull City has left the immediate future of Hayden Hackney at the heartbeat of Kim Hellberg's side in serious jeopardy heading into the upcoming summer transfer window.

Indeed, the Teesside outfit were amongst the second tier's promotion front-runners for the vast majority of what proved to be a campaign packed with drama at the Riverside Stadium.

Hellberg, of course, has only been in situ as head coach since November, after he replaced Rob Edwards following the 43-year-old's controversial move to newly-relegated Wolverhampton Wanderers, just months after he was offered a managerial reprieve by owner, Steve Gibson.

It has been well-documented that, throughout the entirety of the 2025/26 Championship season, no side spent more days inside the division's automatic promotion spots than Boro, and that includes eventual title winners, Coventry City, who went on to finish an eventual four places and 15 points in front.

The aforementioned Wembley heartache felt by Hellberg, Hackney, the rest of the squad and the thousands of supporters also came after Middlesbrough were reinstated to play the play-off final following Southampton's expulsion from the play-offs.

It was also the first time Boro fans had seen Hackney in action for two months, after a previous calf issue had ruled him out from featuring in the promotion run-in and the controversial semi-finals.

However, that half-an-hour cameo against the Tigers may also have been the last of his 154 senior appearances at the club, even though Gibson and other Boro chiefs have seemingly laughed off talk surrounding revived transfer interest from Everton.

How Steve Gibson feels about Middlesbrough selling Hayden Hackney as £10m, Everton transfer talk emerges

Indeed, last summer, Hackney was the subject of intense transfer interest from eventual Championship promotion rivals, Ipswich Town.

The Tractor Boys and Middlesbrough had agreed a reported £20m deal, which would have been a record buy for any club in the division's history, before the 23-year-old, himself, rejected the chance to join Kieran McKenna's team at Portman Road.

Nottingham Forest would also later fail with a bid of their own, but interest in the England youth international's services has failed to dissipate throughout the season.

Unsurprisingly, failure to end their own Premier League hiatus means that Boro are braced for even more interest, with Hackney set to enter the final 12 months of his current four-year deal, which was signed under Michael Carrick.

It has now been claimed that Everton are reviving their interest in the Championship's Player of the Season alongside Crystal Palace and Tottenham Hotspur, for a deal worth just £10m.

Since then, the Northern Echo have stated that higher-ups at the Riverside see such valuation claims as 'laughable', whilst also offering further clarity on the current transfer speculation.

The publication report that, whilst Toffees staff have made low-level contact, a formal offer is yet to be put on the table, and that exactly the same set of circumstances applies to the multitude of clubs also looking to plot their own moves.

It has also been stated that Middlesbrough are to insist on inserting a large sell-on clause into the deal, meaning they would be in line to benefit from any further progress in their academy graduate's long-term career.

Hayden Hackney's current stance as Everton revive transfer interest

It has been widely anticipated that if Middlesbrough were unsuccessful in their promotion aims, Hackney would become a Premier League player for the first time in his career, regardless.

The Athletic recently claimed that his preference is a move to the Hill Dickinson Stadium under David Moyes, and that negotiations between the relevant parties would commence once the five-goal midfielder ratifies such a crucial decision.

However, it is unsurprising that claims of a £10m deal appear to have been laughed off by those at the Riverside, as Hackney has clearly shown he is a player with a significantly higher price point, even if his contract is set to expire in a year's time.

The higher the fee, the better for Middlesbrough in the here and now also, as Hellberg would hope to reinvest large funds throughout the squad in his first pre-season in the North East, in order to compete for glory once more.