Crystal Palace, West Ham and Everton risk losing £20m transfer race to Championship club

Crystal Palace and West Ham have been linked with a transfer swoop for highly rated Middlesbrough midfielder Hayden Hackney this summer but could now miss out on that deal to recently relegated Ipswich Town.

Kieran McKenna is looking to take the Tractor Boys straight back up to the top flight and beating Premier League competition to the signing of Hackney would be a statement of intent from the Championship outfit. The Northern Echo reports that Boro have accepted a total package offer worth £20 million from Ipswich Town.

The majority of that fee would be paid up front, which had been a ‘key part of negotiations’ over the past couple of weeks. Middlesbrough are looking to cash in on Hackney in order to fund their own recruitment ahead of the Championship season.

Ipswich Town swoop to sign Hayden Hackney

It remains to be seen whether Hackney agrees to move to Ipswich Town and stay in the Championship. It is touted that he could decline a move to Portman Road in favour of staying at Middlesbrough and hoping that one of those Premier League clubs’ interest materialises with a formal offer. The player is nonetheless expected to now enter talks with Ipswich Town.

The Sun had claimed that Crystal Palace were preparing a £27 million swoop for Hackney and Middlesbrough teammate Rav van den Berg earlier this month. The Eagles have cultivated a reputation as the go-to Premier League club for Championship stars wanting to make the step up a division and follow in the footsteps of Michael Olise, Eberechi Eze and Adam Wharton.

Sky Sports had reported that Everton also held serious interest in the 23-year-old, who was part of the England under-21 squad that won the Euros last month. Brentford, Fulham and West Ham were all also said to be monitoring Hackney, alongside clubs in Europe that included Porto, Stuttgart and Bayer Leverkusen.

Middlesbrough star expected to make summer exit

Middlesbrough rejected a £9 million offer for Hackney from Porto in January. In their report, The Sun added that Crystal Palace had been monitoring £12 million rated Van den Berg in Slovakia.

Hackney turned heads with his performances in midfield last season and impressed under the stewardship of Michael Carrick. The Boro manager has since been replaced by Rob Edwards.

Speaking ahead of the Euros and after Carrick was sacked, the player said: “I found out Thursday I was in the squad and told my mum and dad and yeah I was buzzing. But also, yeah I was gutted about Michael Carrick to be honest. He’s done loads for me.

“He put his trust in me to play the majority of games and helped me so much with everything really. I can’t thank him enough for that. I text him straight away wishing him all the best in the future and he replied wishing me good luck for going away with England. It was nice. It’s probably the first manager that I’ve lost and I just wanted to thank him for everything. But now a new guy will come in, whoever that may be, and as a squad we’ll go from there.”

In other news, Crystal Palace must now move to sign 'really good' Eberechi Eze replacement after club reject bid - opinion.