Leeds United spent north of £100m in the summer and struck deals for 10 new signings, but Daniel Farke and the club wanted to get more over the line – and a Middlesbrough player was on the list.
The window was a good one for Leeds up until the last week, when deals for Facundo Buonanotte and Harry Wilson fell through. Buonanotte chose Chelsea, while Fulham pulled the plug on Wilson’s move.
With eight points from eight games, Leeds have made a solid-enough start to the Premier League season, but more is needed. Leeds are expected to try and bring a couple of new faces to the club in January.
There is every chance that Leeds could revisit a move for Wilson in the new year, with the Wales star out of contract at the end of the season. Another player they could look at is Boro’s Hayden Hackney.
Leeds missed out on Hayden Hackney in the summer
The midfielder is widely considered one of the best in the Championship, playing a key role in a Boro side that are making an early push for the automatic slots alongside Frank Lampard’s Coventry City.
The Northern Echo claims Boro accepted a £20m bid from Ipswich for the 23-year-old. But according to LeedsUnited.News insider Graeme Bailey, he turned Ipswich down because they had been relegated.
Indeed, Bailey says Leeds missed an opportunity to sign Hackney in the summer, and it remains unclear if Leeds will revisit a possible move: “Leeds missed the chance to get Hayden Hackney in the summer.
“He’s one who was gettable, you know, he almost went to Ipswich and the only reason he didn’t go is because they weren’t in the Premier League. Leeds had an interest in him,” Bailey told LeedsUnited.News.
Andy Hinchcliffe and Jonny Howson’s verdict on Hackney
Leeds academy product Jonny Howson is back at Elland Road, operating as a player-coach after rejoining his boyhood club in the summer. It comes after Howson spent eight years on the books at The Riverside.
In 2023, Howson praised Hackney, as per Teesside Live: “Sometimes it’s difficult to get a true judgement until you get out there and play. He’s taken to it no problem at all. Hasn’t been fazed by anything.”
These days, Hackney is up there among the best in England’s second tier, and earlier this week, during Sky Sports’ coverage of Middlesbrough’s win over Sheffield Wednesday, Andy Hinchcliffe commented.
Hinchcliffe said of Luke Ayling’s current Boro teammate Hackney: “He covers so much ground in front of the defensive line when he can. He is the complete Championship midfielder, Hayden Hackney.”
Whether Hackney or even Middlesbrough are willing to sell him in January, with a promotion fight on the cards, remains to be seen. Leeds may have to sell a player or two before they can agree on a fee for him.
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