Steve Gibson is laughing with more than £30m in the Middlesbrough bank | OneFootball

Cashing in on Hayden Hackney and Morgan Whittaker has worked wonders for Boro.

Middlesbrough will be holding high hopes of a return to the Premier League this summer.

Bouncing back from the heartache suffered in the play-off final last term, Kim Hellberg’s men are well-placed for another promotion run, with it now 10 years since they last graced the top-flight of English football.

A big part of the Teesside outfit getting back among the promotion-chasing pack has been recruitment, with owner Steve Gibson continuing to invest heavily in the club as he looks to get them back fighting with the big boys.

There would have been some fears over how the season would start following the conclusion of the transfer window though, with Boro waving goodbye to the likes of Hayden Hackney and Morgan Whittaker over the course of the summer.

But at the moment, it seems like two bits of business that have helped the squad become stronger, whilst offering a big boost to the coffers in the process.

Middlesbrough’s impressive start to the 2026-27 Championship season

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Once again, Middlesbrough have set out an early marker that they are going to be up there come the end of the season, starting off the campaign strong under Kim Hellberg.

In the second tier so far, Boro kicked off the season with a victory over Championship new-boys Lincoln City, coming from behind to win 2-1, but then slipped to defeat at Ewood Park to Blackburn Rovers by the same scoreline.

However, Boro have since bounced back in adversity, overcoming fellow promotion candidates West Brom 3-1, before drawing 1-1 away at Burnley and then winning on their travels 1-0 at Queens Park Rangers in their last second tier outing.

That means from their opening five games, Boro have collected 10 points, picking up three victories, one draw and just a solitary defeat.

Middlesbrough’s summer transfer activity

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Middlesbrough were certainly one of the busiest clubs in the Championship when it came to transfers, bringing in 12 new players for the new season.

Some standout additions included the likes of Will Lankshear, who is backed to be in contention for the Championship ‘Golden Boot’ award after already netting seven times from eight games from all competitions, while Amario Cozier-Duberry is an exciting winger who will aim to carry over his form in League One with Bolton Wanderers into the Championship.

In terms of outgoings, Middlesbrough waved goodbye to as many as 14 senior figures over the course of the summer, with the likes of Hayden Hackney moving into the Premier League with Everton, while Morgan Whittaker completed a last-gasp transfer to MLS outfit Colorado Rapids, paving the way for Cozier-Duberry to move to the Riverside Stadium.

How Middlesbrough replaced Hayden Hackney and Morgan Whittaker

Many Middlesbrough fans would have been concerned at how the club would cope after losing one of the Championship’s top talents in Hayden Hackney, with the midfielder going on to live his Premier League dream with Everton after coming so agonisingly close to achieving it with his boyhood club.

Meanwhile, the sale of Whittaker was a surprise given the timing of it, and while his departure has divided opinion among the Boro fans, there’s no doubt Middlesbrough will miss his end product, with only two more players having more goal involvements than him last campaign.

To replace Whittaker, Boro, at the last minute, managed to recruit Brighton winger Amario Cozier-Duberry on loan until the end of the season after the former Bolton loanee agreed terms over a new contract at the Amex Stadium.

Meanwhile, to replace the gaping hole left by Hackney’s departure, Boro have utilised American international Sebastian Berhalter, who linked up in the summer from MLS outfit Vancouver Whitecaps for a reported fee of £1.5m.

Berhalter has certainly hit the ground running in the second tier, starting four out of their five league games so far this term and forming an excellent partnership with Aidan Morris, which has been a massive factor as to why they've started the campaign in such positive fashion.

Middlesbrough did the right thing by cashing in on prized assets

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From the sales of Hayden Hackney and Morgan Whittaker, Middlesbrough pocketed over £30m, with Whittaker departing for a reported fee of £7.9m, while a deal for Hackney could rise to as much as £25m.

Meanwhile, Middlesbrough have managed to replace these losses with players who are doing similar, if not better jobs than their predecessors and even better, for a fraction of the cash.

As mentioned, Sebastian Berhalter has taken to Championship life like a duck to water in the opening stages and has been a driving force in midfield, while Amario Cozier-Duberry is full of confidence following last season’s exploits in League One and has all the attributes to be one of the brightest talents in the division over the coming weeks and months.

If Middlesbrough do require a bit more firepower in the playing squad heading into January, then the funds should be available due to the smart spending Steve Gibson and co have done this summer, so you feel Kim Hellberg has all the tools at his disposal to guide Middlesbrough up the table and be leading contenders for promotion back to the big time.

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So far, it feels like Middlesbrough have managed to recruit two gems of players in Berhalter and Cozier-Duberry to replace Hackney and Whittaker, proving that even when you’re forced to sell some of your best assets, it can sometimes be for the better in the long run.

While not viewed like it at the time, sanctioning the sales of Hackney and Whittaker could be the making of Middlesbrough for the rest of the season, with a team full of guile, quality and togetherness forming that can finally end a long-awaited return to the English top-flight.