Middlesbrough fan and reporter Phil Spencer has tipped midfield star Hayden Hackney to be a Premier League player next season after his latest eye-catching display.
Middlesbrough academy graduate Hackney has quickly become one of the best midfield talents in the country outside the Premier League. He made a first-team spot with Boro his own under Michael Carrick and has held down that role since.
He’s gone from strength to strength this season, playing 19 times across all competitions. The 21-year-old’s only game missed was through suspension, that being a 2-0 defeat to Stoke City last month.
Plenty have tipped Hackney for a future at the top and after his latest impressive performance, Middlesbrough fan and talkSPORT writer Phil Spencer has made a clear prediction over what the immediate future holds.
Writing on X, Spencer labelled the Boro midfielder as ‘elite’, tipping him to play Premier League football next season, be it with Middlesbrough or elsewhere.
This lad is elite.
Hayden Hackney will be a Premier League player next season – with or without Middlesbrough. https://t.co/pZzLkCoeOe
— Phil Spencer (@PhilSpenc23) November 20, 2023
A standout talent
Hackney is up there with the Championship‘s best midfielders and it does feel like a matter of time before he’s testing himself against some of English football’s elite players. He’s come on leaps and bounds under a legendary midfielder in Carrick and looks destined for a future at a high level.
He has a key role to play with Middlesbrough and the Teesside outfit will be hopeful of retaining his services for the foreseeable. You have to feel that Boro will have to win promotion this season if they’re to hold onto Hackney though as he just keeps getting better.
It will be interesting to see if higher-league interest emerges in the winter, and if it does, just what stance Middlesbrough will take. Until then, Hackney and Boro will be fully focused on rising from 10th in the Championship table when club football returns later this week.
‘Who knows?’ – Top-flight club hopeful of keeping 23-year-old Middlesbrough loanee
