‘Elliot Anderson route’ - Can Hayden Hackney tread path from EFL to England squad? Ex-Middlesbrough star predicts Premier League transfer but rules out ‘top six’

He had been hoping to take that step up with boyhood club Boro, having joined their academy ranks in 2011 and graduated through the youth system on Teesside to become a senior star with 154 appearances and 16 goals to his name.

The Championship play-off final was reached at the end of the 2025-26 campaign but, having suffered an untimely injury, Hackney was restricted to bit-part role in the quest for promotion and left in tears at Wembley after suffering an agonising defeat to Hull City.

There are just 12 months left to run on the 24-year-old’s contract at the Riverside Stadium, meaning that the time has come for Middlesbrough to cash in on their most prized home-grown asset.

A reunion with former Boro boss Michael Carrick at Manchester United was mooted at one stage, but the expectation is that another stepping stone will be found en route to the top. The likes of Nottingham Forest and Everton have expressed interest, with big-money bids in the pipeline.

Hackney will be on the move at some point before the next transfer deadline passes. Quizzed on whether he could emulate fellow North East native Anderson - who left Newcastle for Forest in 2024 and is now a World Cup star with England - Pallister, speaking in association with Spreadex Sports, told GOAL: “Hayden was named Championship Player of the Year and we certainly missed him in the run-in, the games we played in the play-offs. I know he came on the last half an hour or whatever it was in the final.

“He's a good player. I think he's a Premier League player. I'm not sure at the moment whether he's a top six Premier League player. But we've seen already there's two or three Premier League clubs in for him and he's got a decision to make on his future.

“I think he'd be bitterly disappointed that they blew it last year at Middlesbrough. It'd be interesting to see, with Premier League football, whether he can go on that Elliot Anderson route. He might grow once he's in amongst better players, and I think that can help the player once he's playing with better players.

“I've loved what he's done for Middlesbrough. He's probably following a similar path that I did, and I probably don't see him being at Middlesbrough at the start of the season.”

It has been suggested that any deal involving Hackney could reach the £20m ($26m) mark. That is still a long way short of the British record terms that appear set to take Anderson away from the City Ground and over to the Etihad Stadium.

Time is, however, on Hackney’s side when it comes to making his mark among the Premier League elite and - having formed part of England’s triumphant squad at the European U21 Championship in 2025 alongside Anderson - senior international recognition may not be too far off.