Ipswich Town told why Middlesbrough "won't sell" Hayden Hackney to them | OneFootball

Ipswich Town are the latest club to show an interest in Hayden Hackney

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Ipswich Town are reportedly interested in signing Middlesbrough midfielder Hayden Hackney.

That’s according to a report from TWTD, who state the 23-year-old has been on the radar for Ipswich all summer, but have stepped up their interest recently.

It’s a surprising advance in many quarters, given top-level interest in Hackney from the likes of West Ham, Brentford, Fulham, Crystal Palace, along with Porto, Stuttgart and Bayer Leverkusen.

Our Boro Fan Pundit, Phil, has warned that a sale to a division rival, who they’ll hope to battle for promotion, would show a lack of ambition.

Middlesbrough must avoid Ipswich sale

Speaking to Football League World, Phil said: “Yeah, on the Hackney front, I can't imagine in a million years that will play out, and he'll end up going there.

“There might be some interest, but we won't sell through another rival, a team that has probably got ambitions of going up like ourselves.

“Saying that, I think our ambitions could probably level out a bit this year depending on what happens in the summer.

“I just can't see it. I think even if they came in with big money £20m, £25m, £30m, I think that would also spark a trigger of events with other clubs that he's linked with: Porto, Stuttgart, Everton. Tentative links, but there'll be a lot of bigger clubs than them.

“I think in the unlikely event we did sell him to Ipswich, I would just pack up and give in this season because that's just showing no ambition whatsoever.”

Move would make little sense for Hackney

Aside from their recent Premier League experience, and the parachute payments that come with that season-long stay, there is little separating Middlesbrough and Ipswich.

Given the sort of clubs rumoured to be interested in Hackney, opting for Ipswich of all the options would represent a sideways step for the player himself, even before considering the position of Boro.

As Phil states, it would show a worrying lack of ambition if the club were willing to sanction a high-profile sale of one of their best players to a fellow Championship side they should be competing with for promotion.

A sale to the Tractor Boys may reasonably be perceived as Boro admitting they are not battling for the same prize, which would seem to reveal Rob Edwards’ side as settling for less than a play-off place.

The aim for a club of Middlesbrough’s size and pedigree must be promotion, especially after the number of years Boro have waited for it to be their season; they need to move forward, not backwards.

Hackney is a talented young player who deserves to be tested at a higher level; if an offer comes in from a club in one of Europe’s top leagues, nobody could begrudge him the opportunity, and Boro would receive little criticism provided they got a reasonable price.

But selling to a club that should be a direct promotion rival is not the sort of business Middlesbrough should be doing, even if a vastly inflated fee were to be on offer from Ipswich.