Everton Sign Hackney as Spurs Break Record for Fernandes

Everton have finally got their man. Tottenham have gone and broken their own transfer record. On a single day, two Premier League midfields were reshaped.

Hackney picks Everton after drawn-out chase

Hayden Hackney, the Championship’s player of the year last season, has completed his move from Middlesbrough to Everton in a deal that could reach £25m.

It took weeks. Multiple bids went in, several were knocked back. Middlesbrough held firm on their valuation despite the 24-year-old having only a year left on his contract. Crystal Palace arrived with interest of their own and strengthened Boro’s hand, but Hackney’s mind was already made up.

“As soon as I spoke to the manager, as soon as I knew Everton were interested, it was always going to be Everton,” he said after signing a five-year deal on Merseyside. “It’s such a big club, with the new stadium and the direction it’s going in. I just wanted to be part of that.”

Everton will pay an initial £16.5m, with performance-related add-ons potentially taking the fee to £25m, including clauses linked to Hackney representing England. For a player who has yet to kick a ball in the Premier League, it is a statement of faith.

David Moyes had wanted Hackney a year earlier, before moving his budget into other areas. He kept watching, though, as the midfielder drove Middlesbrough’s season and helped England win the European Under-21 Championship in 2025. The admiration never faded.

“Hayden is a promising young player who we’ve been tracking for some time, and I’m looking forward to working with him,” Moyes said. “We’ve had a track record over the years of identifying players in the Championship who have gone on to do really well for us and been good investments. We hope that will be the case with Hayden, too.

“He’s an England Under-21 international who will provide greater competition in midfield, which is something I wanted going into the new season.”

Hackney sounds ready to embrace the leap.

“I think fans can expect a bit of everything from me – attacking and defensively,” he said. “I think I can carry the ball well, arrive late in the box, and hopefully score some goals. I think there’s plenty more to come from me. Obviously, I haven’t played in the Premier League yet, so once I get used to that I think I can kick on from there.”

Everton, also close to bringing in winger Tyrique George from Chelsea, are clearly leaning into Moyes’s trusted route: hungry, upwardly mobile players from the second tier, moulded into top-flight regulars. Hackney now becomes the next test of that model.

Spurs go all in on Mateus Fernandes

While Everton worked the margins of value, Tottenham went for shock and scale.

Spurs have completed the signing of Mateus Fernandes from West Ham in a deal worth £85m – a club-record fee for the north London side and a powerful signal of intent under Roberto De Zerbi.

The 21-year-old Portugal international arrives with a reputation that has grown quickly. A product of Sporting, he took in a season at Southampton in 2024-25, then joined West Ham last August and adapted fast to the Premier League’s tempo. That one-year stint in east London has now turned into one of the summer’s biggest moves.

De Zerbi has tracked him for a long time and did not hide his enthusiasm.

“I’ve admired Mateus for a long time because he combines quality on the ball with the intensity and intelligence that are so important in the way we want to play,” the Spurs head coach said. “Despite his age, he already has good experience in the Premier League and has shown quality and consistency at this level.”

The attraction was mutual. Fernandes spoke like a player convinced he has found the right stage.

“I’m very excited for this next step. Spurs is a massive club and the head coach was a key part of why I have decided to join,” he said. “When we spoke it was very special. We look at football in the same way – going on to the pitch as a strong team, with fight and energy, to try and win every game. I can’t wait to get started, to meet the fans, to meet everyone, and give everything for the club.”

De Zerbi’s description of his new signing reads like a blueprint for the midfield he wants to build.

“Mateus is comfortable under pressure, can progress the ball, works hard for the team and has the courage to make things happen in difficult moments,” he said. “I believe this is the ideal environment for him to continue his development and I’m excited to start working with him.”

Two clubs, two very different chequebooks, but a shared conviction: build your future around the ball. Hackney and Fernandes now carry that responsibility into a new season that will judge whether these bold moves were vision or gamble.