Everton Beat Spurs and Palace to Land £25m Hackney in Statement of Intent

Everton have agreed a £25million fee with Middlesbrough for Hayden Hackney, beating off Premier League competition from Tottenham and Crystal Palace to secure the Championship's reigning Player of the Season.

The deal for the 24-year-old midfielder is expected to complete before the start of pre-season, with David Moyes adding his first marquee signing of the summer.

Everton win the race for Hackney as Spurs and Palace miss out

This is not a low-key piece of business. Hackney was wanted by a host of clubs, and Everton have come out on top against rivals with deeper resources and loftier ambitions.

Tottenham, Crystal Palace and Hull City were all credited with interest this summer. Manchester United had previously monitored the player, while Nottingham Forest, West Ham and Coventry have all been linked in the past.

Why this transfer battle mattered

For Everton to win that auction signals genuine intent. Beating European-chasing Spurs and a Palace side fresh from punching above their weight is the kind of recruitment victory the club has rarely managed in recent windows.

• Player of the Season in the Championship for 2025/26
• Named in the divisional Team of the Year
• Five goals and eight assists in 38 league appearances
• Former England Under-21 international

Hackney becomes Everton's second signing of the summer. The first saw Merlin Rohl's loan from Freiburg made permanent after the obligation-to-buy conditions were triggered.

Why the Championship's best midfielder fits a struggling Moyes side

Everton finished 13th in the Premier League last season, missing out on European qualification by just four points. The bare numbers do not tell the full story of how the campaign unravelled.

The Toffees ended on a run of one win in their final nine matches, including seven games without a victory to close the season. For a side that spent much of the campaign in the European conversation, it was a damaging collapse.

Addressing an obvious weakness

Hackney is a direct response to that midfield drift. A 24-year-old, in-form, English central midfielder who has just been judged the best player in the second tier addresses a clear squad need.

Under Michael Carrick at Middlesbrough, Hackney developed into a complete midfielder, contributing goals and assists while anchoring the side. The 13 league goal involvements from central midfield are exactly the kind of output Everton lacked when the wheels came off.

The healthy scepticism

Yet £25m for a Championship player carries risk. Hackney has never played in the Premier League, and the step up is steep.

The deeper question is whether one signing solves the structural issues behind that end-of-season collapse. A team that wins once in nine games has problems that run beyond a single midfield slot, and Moyes will need more than Hackney to convince supporters the trajectory has changed.

Moyes will lead the club into their 73rd consecutive top-flight season, opening at home to Crystal Palace on Saturday, 22 August. The first friendly comes away at Dundee on Saturday, 18 July.

What the £25m sale means for Middlesbrough's promotion hopes

For Middlesbrough, this is a significant outbound deal, and not one made from a position of strength on the pitch.

Boro finished fifth last season, four points adrift of automatic promotion. Their play-off campaign came with a twist: having lost to Southampton in the semi-finals, they were reinstated after their opponents were disqualified for spying on other teams.

Wembley heartbreak and a costly summer

That reprieve led to the final at Wembley on 23 May, where Boro were beaten 1-0 by Hull City. A ninth year outside the top flight followed.

Losing your best player after falling short carries obvious implications.

Hackney was named the division's Player of the Season as well as being named in the Team of the Year.

Carrick must now rebuild around a £25m hole. The fee gives Middlesbrough spending power, but replacing a Player of the Season is rarely a like-for-like exercise, and promotion-fancied sides who sell their best asset often regress.

The bettor's view

The deal shifts the outlook for both clubs ahead of the new campaign. Everton's squad looks materially stronger in midfield, while Boro's promotion case weakens with their standout performer departing.

How quickly Carrick reinvests the windfall will shape whether Middlesbrough remain genuine contenders or slip back into the Championship's chasing pack.

What happens next

The transfer is expected to be completed before pre-season begins, allowing Hackney to integrate ahead of Everton's friendly at Dundee on 18 July.

Attention now turns to whether this is the first of several Everton signings. One midfielder, however impressive, will not erase the memory of seven straight games without a win, and Moyes will be expected to strengthen further before the 22 August opener against Palace.

For Middlesbrough, the focus shifts to reinvestment. Carrick has the funds to reshape his squad, but the clock is ticking on a promotion push that just lost its most important player.