Why Preston target could be Middlesbrough’s perfect Hackney replacement

Preston North End and Middlesbrough will both head into the upcoming Championship season having suffered a significant loss in the midfield ranks.

At Deepdale, Preston are set to lose Ben Whiteman on a £3m deal to Wrexham, the 30-year-old skipper having spent the last five-and-a-half years at the club.

As for Boro, well, the Riverside outfit have seen the division’s Player of the Year for 2025/26 depart for Everton, in the form of Hayden Hackney, the 24-year-old leaving for an initial fee of £16.5m.

The Englishman appears in safe hands under David Moyes’ watch on Merseyside, although as for Kim Hellberg and co, the question now is how to replace him.

Why Boro still need to replace Hayden Hackney

As Hellberg has himself outlined, there’s still likely to be plenty more incomings this summer, with the likes of Radek Vitek and Ashley Phillips among those under consideration.

In terms of the midfield unit, there have already been moves made to try and fill Hackney’s void, with United States international, Sebastian Berhalter, arriving from Vancouver Whitecaps.

The 25-year-old had been enjoying a fine 2026 campaign in MLS, scoring and assisting ten goals in just 14 games, while creating 11 ‘big chances’ and averaging 2.8 key passes per game.

That record certainly compares with Hackney’s own return from 2025/26, the ex-Boro playmaker scoring and assisting 12 goals, creating eight ‘big chances’ and averaging 2.2 key passes per game.

And yet, plugging the gap with just one new midfield arrival might not be enough, while there will also be the concern over whether Berhalter can replicate his MLS form in English football.

Hackney, as he showed last season, in particular, is such a joy to watch, the man who can really control a midfield from deep, while repeatedly playing those probing, progressive passes to those ahead of him.

Finding a player of that ilk is certainly set to be difficult, but Boro do appear to have options in mind.

Why Boro could make move to sign Preston target

The surprise exit of Whiteman will have come as a real blow for the Lancashire side, the Englishman having started 43 games in the Championship last season, scoring and assisting seven times.

In need of a swift addition to try and replace the captain, journalist Pete O’Rourke of Football Insider has revealed that Preston are now lining up a move for Leicester City’s Oliver Skipp.

The suggestion is that the Deepdale hierarchy are hopeful of bringing the 25-year-old in on loan, with an exit looking likely following the Foxes’ drop into the third tier.

As per O’Rourke, Boro have also been linked with the former Tottenham Hotspur man this summer, albeit while perhaps having been put off previously by talk of a £15m asking price.

A loan move may well prove more appealing for a player who joined Leicester on a £20m-£25m deal just two years ago, with there still a talent there to be nurtured.

Of course, those at the King Power would argue against Skipp’s quality, but it’s no doubt been difficult for anyone to flourish amid the ongoing turbulence at the Midlands club.

Indeed, Boro would be banking on what Skipp has shown in the past, the Spurs academy graduate notably hailed as a “future captain” of the club by Jose Mourinho.

He had also sparkled out on loan at Norwich City in 2020/21, as the Canaries won the second tier title, starting 44 games that year for Daniel Farke’s men.

That is some way off now, but what Skipp showed that season provides reason to believe he can flourish under Hellberg’s watch, having been such a calm and composed figure at Carrow Road.

Across that season in Norfolk, the deep-lying playmaker notably boasted a stellar 88% pass accuracy rate, actually just ahead of Hackney’s 86% average from last term.

Skipp also proved a really effective screen in front of the back four, averaging 3.3 tackles and interceptions per game, while Hackney, meanwhile, averaged 2.2 in that regard last season.

Now, it must be said, Skipp isn’t the type of player to maraude forward like Hackney, but he can control a game and dictate the tempo at his best, with Leicester having forked out that £20m fee for good reason in 2024.

Still just 25, he’s already played 180 games in the top two tiers of English football, as well as 106 games in all competitions during his time in English football.

Under the right coach, be that Hellberg in Middlesbrough or Paul Heckingbottom at Preston, Skipp might well find his feet again.