Exclusive: Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest send scouts to watch EFL sensation who's 'destined for the top'
Today at 03:52 AM
- EXCLUSIVE from Graeme Bailey
Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest are already plotting their January business.
The Premier League duo have made productive starts to the new Premier League campaign and behind the scenes, they’re already carrying out due diligence on a number of potential targets.
With that said, TBR Football can exclusively reveal who they were scouting during a Championship fixture last night.
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Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest scouting Middlesbrough’s Hayden Hackney
TBR Football can reveal that Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Wolves all made the short trip to The Hawthorns to check on leading Championship outfits West Brom and Middlesbrough on Tuesday evening.
TBR Football understands that all three clubs were looking closely at England Under-21 midfielder Hayden Hackney – who has been one of the most impressive Championship performers so far this season.
Tuesday also saw the return of Boro’s highly-rated defender Rav van den Berg, who Villa and Wolves are both admirers of.
Villa and Forest were also keeping tabs on the progress of West Brom’s outstanding winger Tom Fellows – who they have been watching closely for over 12 months.
Fellows has registered five assists in eight appearances so far this term.
What Michael Carrick has said about Hayden Hackney
Hackney, who The Athletic say is ‘destined for the top’, is hugely admired by his manager Michael Carrick.
“There is so much opportunity in the game ahead of him and I'm really excited to see what he's capable of doing,” Carrick told TeesideLive earlier this year.
“It's all there for Hayden. We can all see what he's capable of and how much he's improved over a short period of time.”
