How Sebastian Berhalter will replace the Hackney-shaped hole in Boro's midfield

Hackney won the Championship Player of the Year award last term and retained his club version of the award. Alas, after Boro’s promotion bid failed, his exit was inevitable and a lucrative deal was made with Everton.

Replacing Hackney was always going to be a massively difficult, if not near enough impossible. In that sense, the expectation on impending new Boro midfielder Sebastian Berhalter to ‘replace’ Hackney should be removed quickly.

This summer for Boro and Hellberg is about evolution. A first summer transfer window - and one in which Boro appear to have ambitious intent - is about reshaping the Boro squad to better suit how Hellberg wants to play.

USA international Berhalter may arrive in a $1.5m deal from MLS side Vancouver Whitecaps to replace the hole in the team left from Hackney's departure. But he’s by no means coming to do the exact same job.

“He's an industrious central midfielder.” Patrick Johnston, who covers the Whitecaps for The Province and Vancouver Sun, tells Teesside Live. “He does everything. He is a classic box-to-box guy.

“His dad [Gregg] and his mom [Roz] were great players in their own right, and perhaps that shows in Sebastian, who, in recent years, has shown a real football intelligence and tactical nous.

“He was signed really because of the energy he can bring, but it turns out he has such an incredible brain for the game.

“He's fantastic on set pieces - there were a couple of goals he scored for the US that were just typical of what he does for the Whitecaps. When you look at every one of the analytics sites, basically they all rated him as the best midfielder in Major League Soccer last year.”

It would be wise not to compare Berhalter to Hackney, or expect him to offer the same. Hellberg will, as he’s already promised, be making significant changes to Boro’s playing style.

Now, with the freedom to remodel the squad for Hellberg, he’ll be building a game-plan based on players acquired for what he wants, as opposed to what he inherited and tried to make the best with last term.

A quick look at Berhalter’s stats in comparison to Hackney’s - albeit while appreciating they’re playing in different divisions - show Berhalter is far more accomplished at progressive passing, than ball carrying - the latter of which made Hackney such a standout star.

On top of that, however, Berhalter’s defensive numbers appear to show a player a bit more minded in that side of the game than Hackney. That said, Boro’s game-plan, and the desire to not shackle the Teesside star with too much defensive responsibility, should also be noted.

As well as a player with a lot of quality and attractive attributes for a Hellberg team, Berhalter is said to be a really strong and driven character - not too dissimilar to his good friend Aidan Morris.

The pair came through the Columbus Crew academy together which, according to Patrick, is held up as one of the shining lights for developing young talent in the USA.

Berhalter and Morris would take different paths after breaking into the Columbus side, however. While Morris would thrive and remain a regular until his 2024 switch to Boro, Berhalter’s career take-off was a bit more of a slow-burner.

“After initially breaking through, he kind of stalled out,” Patrick explains. “He didn't find a role in a very good Columbus squad, got loaned out to Austin in Austin's first year in MLS. You would have thought that that would have been a great fit for him, but it was a bit meh.

“So he went back to Columbus at the beginning of 2022, and the Whitecaps picked him up. Axel Schuster, who's the CEO here, and his staff have been very good at identifying young players.”

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Berhalter, 25, came through the tougher years to establish himself as a star in the MLS. It’s been in the last 18 months when Boro have really stepped up their interest in the midfielder.

That’s hardly surprising. In the 2025 MLS campaign, and the first half of 2026, the USA international scored 15 of his 20 goals for the Whitecaps, and 17 of his 26 assists.

On his sudden explosion to star player, Patrick explained: “Berhalter really grew into his own under their previous coach, who was Vanni Sartini, who was a really quite fun Italian fellow who had never actually been a manager before.

“He wasn't terribly tactically astute, but very good in terms of just pumping up his players. Berhalter really found his place in the team under Vanni. But it really clicked last year when they hired Jesper Sorensen, who's from Brøndby.

“He's a brilliant manager, and it was similar to Berhalter, where you just know he's going to go on to bigger things. His team leans very heavily on fitness, to an extreme degree. A very aggressive press, and they basically run you off the pitch.

“Berhalter's a huge part of that. Playing in the double pivot his ability to track back, win balls back, and then immediately turn play back the other way is outstanding.

“Playing under such a tactically astute manager in Sorensen has certainly helped, and the number speak for themselves. But it’s not just the goals and assists, it’s everything else he brings to the team. His quality.

“Key passes, incredible vision, impeccable touch, how he can pivot really quickly, he’s the classic midfielder. His passing range is excellent. He tends to play on the right side of the midfield two and he’ll win the ball deep, turn quickly on it then ping a long, accurate ball out to the left winger to quickly progress the Caps up the field.

“Then his instincts are to step up at the top of the 18. He’s really outstanding at timing those runs. He really is going to be a massive miss for the Caps.”

It certainly sounds encouraging for Boro. Like Sorensen, Hellberg is tactically astute manager who will demand energy, fitness and strong running from his Boro team.

Berhalter feels like another ideal fit, and there is real excitement to be landing him. Clubs worldwide are said to have been watching closely, while ten other clubs lodged official bids, including Championship rivals and European top flight sides.

And by way of final seal of approval for the move from a Boro perspective, Patrick concludes: “Boro are getting an incredible player. For a club that's trying to get back up - assuming he has a role because I don't know anything about the Boro midfield - but this is a guy that makes total sense.

“When we heard, we all kind of thought, ‘Oh, isn't he going to go to the Premier League?’ But, you can see what Boro are trying to do, and this, to me, is a brilliantly smart signing by them.”

Middlesbrough are preparing for a big summer as they look to rebuild from the heartarche of missing out on promotion to the Premier League.

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