TOWARDS the end of last season, Dan Neil signed a new contract with Sunderland that commits him to the club for the next three years. Earlier this week, Hayden Hackney penned new terms with Middlesbrough that tie him down to the Riverside until the summer of 2027.

Both players are 21, and both play in central midfield. Both are boyhood fans of the team they are representing, and have been with their respective clubs throughout their academy upbringing. Both completed their first season in the Championship last term and were hugely impressive. Prior to signing their new deals, both were beginning to be linked with clubs in the top-flight.

There are differences between the duo, both in terms of their playing style and their development to this point. Neil is arguably the more technically-gifted of the two, gliding across the turf with the ball at his feet, while Hackney is probably the more rounded of the pair, with his ‘box-to-box’ style something of a throwback to classic central-midfielders of the past.

Hackney came from nowhere last season, having spent the second half of the previous campaign on loan at Scunthorpe United, while Neil has more experience under his belt after making 31 starts during Sunderland’s promotion-winning campaign in League One.

They have more in common than not though, and as they prepare to head into the new season, they both find themselves standing at a potentially-pivotal point in their career. Last year was exceptional, with expectations being exceeded at pretty much every turn. The next 12 months will go a long way towards revealing where the ceiling of their potential lies.

The Northern Echo:

Clearly, their respective clubs think an awful lot of them, and after periods in the past where both Sunderland and Middlesbrough have failed to plan for the future and adequately protect their homegrown assets, it is to both clubs’ credit that they have agreed new deals at a point where both Neil and Hackney were still developing. Whatever happens in the future, the Black Cats and Boro should be able to maximise the value of players they have identified, developed and nurtured over the course of a decade.

Now, it is up to the players themselves to live up to the considerable promise they have displayed so far. For all that they have rightly been hailed as two of the most exciting young midfield prospects in the country, that will not necessarily be an easy task.

READ MORE:

Hackney was certainly an unknown when he stepped into Middlesbrough’s first team for the first time against Birmingham at the start of last October, and while Neil had established something of a reputation in League One, he was hardly a household name when last season began given that Alex Neil had taken him out of the firing line in the latter stages of the promotion campaign and not selected him for either leg of the play-off semi-final or for the final at Wembley.

To a certain extent, they were able to find their feet in the Championship while the spotlight was trained on others, but that will not be the case next season. Instead, they will be the focal points of their respective midfields, charged with being one of their team’s key creators while also being actively targeted by the opposition.

The Northern Echo:

Fans, who can often develop strange love-hate relationships with their homegrown stars, will expect more this season, along with their managers, who will no longer regard them as unproven youngsters. Regular international recognition at Under-21 level could well be in the offing - Hackney has also represented Scotland Under-21s - and Premier League clubs will no doubt also be sniffing around.

Suddenly, there is a lot more to handle, and while in Tony Mowbray and Michael Carrick, the pair could hardly be in better hands, you do not have to delve too far into the recent history of either Sunderland or Middlesbrough to find players who have burst to prominence in their breakthrough season, only to then struggle to cope with raised expectations.

Hopefully, that will not be the case with either Neil or Hackney, and there is no reason to think it will be. Having interviewed both relatively recently, they are bright, level-headed young men with a strong work ethic and obvious desire to develop, improve and make the absolute most of their talents.

Sunderland and Middlesbrough are fortunate to have them, and while they will inevitably chart their own individual course through their careers, it will be interesting to compare and contrast how they develop. For now, their long-term futures are committed to the North-East and they head into the new season with a world of possibilities open to them. Let’s hope they continue to burn as brightly as they have been over the course of the last 12 months.


***


BOTH Sunderland and Middlesbrough will look to be as competitive as possible in the transfer market this summer, but if proof was ever needed of the distortive impact of Premier League parachute payments, it could be found at Leicester City this week.

Yes, Leicester have pocketed a financial windfall from the sale of James Maddison to Tottenham, but given the loss of revenue that goes hand-in-hand with a drop into the Championship, would the Foxes really have been shelling out a guaranteed £7.5m to sign Conor Coady, with an extra £1m due in the event of promotion, if they did not have the safety net of around £45m in parachute payments?

No doubt Leeds and Southampton will also be splashing the cash at some stage too in an attempt to secure an immediate return to the top-flight. Supporters moan about the vast gulf between the haves and have-nots in the Premier League, but the divide is even starker in the Championship. Money doesn’t always buy you success, of course, but as Leicester are already showing, it’s nice to know it’s there despite a season of extreme failure.