Everton's Transfer Strategy: Pursuing Hayden Hackney and West Ham Connections

Everton’s summer has not yet sparked into life, but the rumour mill around Goodison Park is already at full tilt – and West Ham United sit right at the heart of it.

The transfer window officially opened today. Everton have no deals over the line, no medicals booked in public, no grand unveilings. What they do have is a clear target at the top of their list and a cluster of potential opportunities circling a relegated West Ham squad that many expected to be stripped for parts.

Hackney at the top of the list

The clearest thread in Everton’s planning runs through the Championship. Middlesbrough’s Hayden Hackney, freshly crowned Championship Player of the Season, is the midfielder Sean Dyche wants.

Hackney is understood to be keen on the move. Everton want him. The issue is money. Talks continue over the fee it will take to pull the 22-year-old away from his boyhood club, and Middlesbrough know they hold a valuable asset. Until that number drops into a range Everton can live with, the deal stays parked in negotiation.

While that plays out, the rest is speculation – but not without logic.

Old ties and familiar profiles at West Ham

Whenever Everton’s recruitment plans are discussed, West Ham’s name keeps reappearing. No surprise. David Moyes knows that squad inside out, and the profiles at the London Stadium line up neatly with the gaps in his own dressing room.

The interest in Hackney raises a question: does that cool Everton’s admiration for Tomas Soucek, the veteran midfielder Moyes tried to bring in last summer? Soucek’s experience, physicality and knack for arriving late in the box would still fit Dyche’s blueprint, but a major outlay in one midfield area could close the door in another.

Right-back remains a priority position, yet Everton have already stepped away from one obvious name. As reported last month, despite the need on that flank, Aaron Wan-Bissaka was not being pursued at that stage. The club want value and the right stylistic fit, not just a recognisable Premier League name.

On the left, the links are more adventurous. Attacking full-back El Hadji Malick Diouf has been mentioned as a potential signing, a very different proposition to the dependable Vitalii Mykolenko, who signed a new three-year contract last week. Mykolenko offers security; Diouf, on paper, offers thrust. That contrast is exactly the kind of balance Everton have lacked in recent seasons.

And then there is Jarrod Bowen.

Moyes would relish the chance to work with the West Ham captain again. Bowen’s goals, work rate and versatility make him one of the standout forwards outside the traditional elite. But he will not be short of offers, and Everton know they would be swimming in deep, expensive waters if they tried to tempt him from East London.

The same applies to Crysencio Summerville. The winger’s pace and directness would inject the kind of electricity down the flanks Everton supporters crave. His reputation only grew with a fine goal for Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands in their World Cup opener against Japan on Sunday night. Players who light up tournaments rarely come cheap.

Striker search meets financial reality

Everton are open to entering the striker market. They also understand the reality: proven centre-forwards cost serious money and attract serious competition.

The plan is simple. If an affordable, credible option appears, they will move. If not, they will not force it.

One such name floated over the weekend was Taty Castellanos. The Guardian reported that the 27-year-old Argentina international, who joined West Ham from Lazio in January, could be a player Everton look at. Castellanos managed seven goals in 22 appearances in a struggling side and could yet be one of the more attainable forwards if West Ham choose to reshape their attack.

For that to happen, though, West Ham would have to be willing sellers. And that is where the narrative around their relegation has started to twist.

Kretinsky’s stance changes the picture

The assumption after West Ham’s drop into the Championship was simple: big-name players would have to go. Relegation usually means cuts, sales, and a squad stripped down to balance the books.

Daniel Kretinsky has other ideas.

On Saturday, it was announced that Kretinsky had agreed a deal with the family of the late David Gold to buy some of their shares. The move would lift his stake in West Ham to 43 per cent, making the owner of Royal Mail the club’s largest shareholder.

Speaking to The Times, Kretinsky set out a clear message: West Ham do not need a fire sale.

“We have a very credible strategy. We don’t need to sell the players for financial reasons. We are doing this to make sure we are promoted back to the Premier League immediately. That is our only goal.

“Key players are waiting for us. They want to see there is a real chance of keeping the squad together. What matters is funding, strategy and consistency.

“We have spoken to all of them. They need to see that our project is real and serious. Promotion is our only goal.”

Those words cut straight across the hopes of clubs circling for bargains. If Kretinsky holds the line, West Ham will try to keep the core of their squad intact for Nuno Espirito Santo and mount an instant promotion push, not dismantle it piece by piece.

For Everton, that shifts the landscape. The idea of raiding a relegated club for underpriced talent becomes more complicated when the seller insists it is under no pressure to deal.

Hackney remains the live pursuit. The West Ham links, for now, sit in that familiar summer space between opportunity and wishful thinking. As the window opens and the numbers harden, Everton must decide: do they push for their preferred targets at a premium, or wait for the kind of crack in the market Kretinsky insists will not appear?