Middlesbrough’s season draws to a close on Saturday, as they are unable to improve on their current eighth position.
Having failed to win in their first seven league games of the campaign, there were early worries that Michael Carrick‘s side could be in a relegation fight.
However, Carrick and co. managed to turn it around before falling just short of the play-offs.
Having been beaten by Coventry City in the play-off semi final last season, many tipped Middlesbrough to go one better this year and secure a return to the Premier League.
That was not the only prediction that has not come true as far as Boro are concerned, though, with The Telegraph tipping a member of Carrick’s side as a ‘Player to Watch’ in their pre-season tips.
Hayden Hackney tipped as Player to Watch
That player was Hayden Hackney.
This is perhaps not surprising given the midfielder picked up Boro’s Young Player of the Season award last season and has made five England under-21 appearances.
That campaign was a breakthrough season for the now-21-year-old, as he started 32 Championship games.
Hackney also scored three goals and provided four assists, according to Transfermarkt, in what was a really impressive season.
In The Telegraph‘s pre-season predictions, journalists Jason Burt and Chris Bascombe both nominated Hackney as their ‘Player to Watch’ for the 2023/24 season, with Burt writing: “If Boro do not get promoted they can expect to receive offers from Premier League clubs for Hayden Hackney.”
The likes of Sunderland’s Jobe Bellingham, as well as Southampton duo Samuel Edozie and Shea Charles were also nominated and it could be argued none of the players mentioned have managed to live up to the hype.
Hackney has struggled to kick on this season
Carrick was glowing in his praise for Hackney last season, calling the Boro academy product a “shining light” of the club.
The Boro boss went on to say: “He’s a talented lad and more importantly he is so down to earth and humble. He’s willing to listen and he’s a very fast learner, so anything you tell him he takes on board straight away.”
Whilst Hackney has by no means had a bad season, fans could be forgiven for being slightly disappointed at the progress the young midfielder has made this year.
Admittedly, Hackney has had injury troubles which have not helped, but the midfielder has managed just one league goal and no assists in his 21 appearances this season.
As a defensive midfielder, there is much more to Hackney’s game than goals and assists.
However, when comparing his statistics from this season to last using data available on FBREF, you can see that there has been a slight drop-off.
Hackney’s pass completion success this season (86.5%) has dropped compared to last season (88.4%), whilst he is underperforming his expected goals by 0.7, whereas last year he outperformed this metric by 1.3.
His percentage of shots on target is down 2.2% as well, going from 17.6% last season to 15.4% this.
Hackney’s tackle success rate has dropped too, from 43.1% to 42.6%.
A number of other statistics are worse than last season, but some of this can be attributed to playing significantly less games so only percentages are really deemed noteworthy.
There is not a huge difference between these numbers, but the point is that Hackney was hoped to continue to progress rather than equal last season or fall short.
Where Boro may have vehemently rejected any transfer approaches for Hackney in the past, they could now be more willing to listen to offers for the 21-year-old who may never hold as much value as he currently does.