Newcastle United stance on Middlesbrough, Millwall, QPR and West Brom target detailed | OneFootball

Four Championship clubs - Middlesbrough, West Bromwich, QPR and Millwall - have reportedly made the signing of Newcastle United midfielder Isaac Hayden a priority.

That's according to Football Insider, who report that Newcastle boss Eddie Howe has told the midfielder that he will be no longer needed at the club and made him train away from the first team.

Hayden's contract with the club runs until the summer of 2026 but he is said to be available on a permanent transfer.

Hayden was on loan at Championship side Norwich City last year. Despite joining them in last year's summer transfer window, he only made 14 appearances for the club; just nine of them were starts.

Who is Isaac Hayden?

He joined the Magpies from Arsenal in 2016 where he came through the club's youth system.

Hayden has plenty of Championship and Premier League experience. He's made well over 100 appearances, during his time with Newcastle, and was, at one point, a regular in their first team. However, this was before Newcastle's recent success.

Whilst on loan at Norwich last year, he played in a deeper, more defensive role than he had done in previous years at St James Park. As per Sofascore, he won over half of all of his defensive duels - with 56% success in ground duels and 60% success aerially - and was pretty accurate when passing the ball - finishing the season with 81% pass success.

What may concern fans of the four Championship clubs who are linked to him is his years of problems with injuries. According to Transfermarkt.com, he has had four separate knee injuries over the last few seasons. He was injured for 172 days last season, missing a total of 30 games for Norwich and his fitness was suspect at times when he was available.

Why do clubs want to buy Isaac Hayden?

Due to the fact that he has become surplus to requirements at Newcastle, he will likely be available for a slightly cheaper price than other players of his calibre and experience.

Middlesbrough have a very young squad and are in desperate need of some more experienced players in the dressing room. A recent poll by Teesside Live showed that over half of Boro fans were concerned by the lack of experience in the squad. 24-year-old Lukas Engel is the club's oldest outfield signing of the summer.

QPR could find themselves in another relegation battle this year and an injury to Sam Field, for example, could be catastrophic given he and new arrival Jack Colback are the only senior defensive midfielders that

Darren Witcoop has reported that West Brom are ready to sell midfielder Taylor Gardner-Hickman to Bristol City, and that they're looking to offload fellow centre-mid Nathaniel Chalobah in order to raise funds for some more incomings before the transfer deadline. This leaves an opening for someone like Hayden to come into the squad.