Everton are looking to sign Hayden Hackney this summer – and that could give the Toffees a seriously effective new trio.
Evertonians want to see the club get busy in the transfer market now after a dreadful end to the 2025/26 season.
The window is not open yet, but groundwork is obviously already being laid – and Hackney looks to be a top target.
How would you feel about Hayden Hackney becoming Everton’s first signing? 🤩
It’s been reported today that Hackney would actually prefer a move to Everton over other clubs, which is great news given his quality and potential.
He is certainly highly rated, and of course recently he scooped the Championship Player of the Season award.
If Everton do land Hackney, then their midfield could be a total nightmare for opponents next season.
Everton can create nightmare midfield for opponents next season by adding Hayden Hackney
Everton’s midfield has really not been one of the weak points of the team in recent times.
But despite that, signing Hackney could see the midfield really improve.
Obviously Idrissa Gana Gueye is coming to the end of his career, and while he still has a decent engine, he really ought to be reduced to more of a rotation role next term.
Hackney could be an excellent option to start regularly.
Potentially, a midfield trio of Hackney, Garner and Dewsbury-Hall could be a total nightmare for other teams to come up against.
Garner made the most tackles in the Premier League last season (119, via Stat Muse), and the second-most interceptions (57).
Dewsbury-Hall was reported to have 1594 ‘pressures’ in mid-March, with no Everton player applying more pressures on opponents at the time. This highlighted his amazing work-rate.
And a few months ago, Hackney ranked top for ball recoveries (182) in the Championship (via Squawka), and no player had won possession in the midfield third more times than Hackney (104).
And a report from the Liverpool Echo in April showed Hackney was covering an average of 11.745km per 90 minutes, which was a greater total distance than the Premier League’s leading trio at the time, Leeds United’s Ethan Ampadu (11.519km); Bruno Guimaraes (11.263km) and Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson (10.814km).
If you were Angus Kinnear who would you be going all out for this summer? 💰
Given that all three players also chipped in with goals and assists (36 combined in the Premier League and Championship in 2025/26), this trio really does have the potential to become one of the best in the top-flight.
So Everton need to do what they can to beat off the competition for Hackney this summer.
The star is clearly very coveted. And now that it’s been reported he favours Everton, it would be a bad look for The Friedkin Group to miss out.
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