{"id":616758,"date":"2026-06-02T09:25:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T09:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/616758\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T09:25:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T09:25:10","slug":"everton-emerge-as-shock-frontrunners-for-manchester-united-and-spurs-transfer-target-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/616758\/","title":{"rendered":"Everton emerge as shock frontrunners for Manchester United and Spurs transfer target: report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Everton have reportedly made a play to hijack a deal for the highly-rated midfielder.<\/p>\n

A report from the The Athletic <\/a>indicates that the Merseysiders have stolen a march on their top-flight rivals, positioning themselves at the front of the race for Hackney’s signature.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Securing the Middlesbrough<\/a> skipper will require fending off competition from across the Premier League. The 23-year-old\u2019s reputation has skyrocketed over the past year, culminating in him being named Championship<\/a> Player of the Season.<\/p>\n

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Hayden Hackney to Everton?<\/p>\n

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David Moyes has worked wonders with fellow England youth international James Garner (Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

That standout individual campaign has inevitably triggered top-flight scouting missions, with London pair Tottenham Hotspur<\/a> and Crystal Palace both credited with a long-standing interest in the England Under-21 international.<\/p>\n

The most formidable obstacle to Everton\u2019s pursuit, however, was widely expected to come from Old Trafford.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Manchester United manager Michael Carrick<\/a> is thought to have made no secret of his desire to bring his former Middlesbrough prodigy to Old Trafford.<\/p>\n

The tactical bond between the pair is considerable, with Carrick entrusted Hackney with a vital first-team role on Teesside, overseeing his development across 104 senior outings. Given that history, footballing circles heavily anticipated that Hackney would jump at the chance to accept a formal proposal from Man United<\/a> to reunite with his former mentor.<\/p>\n

The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.<\/p>\n

Yet, Everton\u2019s intervention has altered the transfer landscape. Middlesbrough\u2019s promotion ambitions were dashed by a painful defeat to Hull City<\/a> in the Championship play-off final, rendering Hackney\u2019s departure a near certainty.<\/p>\n

With the midfielder entering the final 12 months of his contract, the Boro hierarchy likely realise this window is their final opportunity to command a sizeable fee.<\/p>\n

While Manchester United have broader squad rebuilding priorities and Spurs assess their options, Everton appear to have moved decisively. By offering a guaranteed, central role in their Premier League midfield, the Toffees could be on the verge of pulling off one of the summer\u2019s most impressive transfer coups.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Everton have reportedly made a play to hijack a deal for the highly-rated midfielder. A report from the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":616759,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-616758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/616759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}