Middlesbrough will hope for a Jonathan Woodgate, Stewart Downing 2.0 very soon: View | OneFootball

Woodgate and Downing are two of Middlesbrough's best ever talents to come through their academy, but who might be next?

Middlesbrough's academy is one of the most well respected in English football due to Boro's long-held track record of producing quality players, with Jonathan Woodgate and Stewart Downing being two of the club's poster boys in that regard.

At any level of the professional football pyramid you look at in this country, it won't be long before you find Middlesbrough's influence. Indeed, the club boasts itself as being one of just 24 Category 1 Academy status clubs in the country.

The likes of Marcus Tavernier and Djed Spence have been two of the latest stars of Middlesbrough's youth production line, with Tavernier in particular having been shining for Bournemouth in the top-flight for the last couple of seasons.

For a club that has been outside the Premier League since 2017 and with the benefit of parachute payments long gone, having an excellent academy system to consistently provide quality first-team players is vital.

Football League World takes a look at just how good Woodgate and Downing were for Middlesbrough, and indeed in their careers as a whole, and ponders the players who may be Boro's next big academy talents.

Woodgate & Downing are two of Boro's best academy products

Despite moving to Leeds United as a youngster and subsequently graduating from the Whites' academy in 1998, it was his boyhood club, Middlesbrough, where Woodgate began his career.

After making 140 appearances for Leeds, during which he would play regular Premier League football and make appearances in the Champions League and Europa League, the centre-back would sign for Newcastle United in 2003.

One year on Tyneside would see the England international sign for footballing giants Real Madrid in 2004. He would endure a frustrating three-year spell at the Santiago Bernabéu, with multiple injuries and mixed performances limiting him to just 14 appearances for Los Blancos.

He would return to Middlesbrough from Madrid in 2007, before leaving once again to spend time with Tottenham and Stoke City respectively, until 2012, when he would see out his final years as a Boro player between 2012-2016.

As for Downing, he too enjoyed a highly successful career that saw him reach the very top of the game. After graduating from Middlesbrough's academy in 2001, 'Stewy' would remain with his boyhood side until 2009, when he would sign for Aston Villa.

During that initial period with Boro, he would win the League Cup in 2004, and play a leading role in the club's back-to-back UEFA Cup campaigns between 2004 and 2006, as well as break into the England national team in 2005.

Spells with Liverpool and West Ham United were to follow between 2011 and 2015, before signing back with Middlesbrough in 2015. From there, he would help his club win promotion to the Premier League in 2015/16, and make well over 100 appearances between 2015 and 2019.

Downing would retire in 2021 having spent his last two seasons with Blackburn Rovers and is widely regarded on Teesside as Middlesbrough's greatest-ever academy product.

So, who might be Middlesbrough's next big academy talent? Well, the player who's been the shining light of Boro's academy in recent times is central midfielder Hayden Hackney.

The 22-year-old has been on Boro's books since Under-10 level, and after years of turning heads at Rockliffe Park, he was handed his first-team debut in the FA Cup back in January 2021.

But after failing to break into the starting lineup, the midfielder would head out on loan to then League Two side Scunthorpe United in the summer of 2021. Scunthorpe would suffer relegation to the National League that season, and so Hackney returned to Middlesbrough as a player who few expected to see involved in the first team in 2022.

However, his big break would arrive after the sacking of Chris Wilder in October 2022, with Leo Percovich stepping up as caretaker manager until Michael Carrick was appointed. It was during that transitional period that Percovich would hand Hackney the opportunity to show what he could do and he did just that.

Only injuries have kept Hackney out of Carrick's starting lineup since, and after breaking into the England youth setup, the Redcar-born midfielder is now attracting the attention of some of the Premier League's top clubs.

Outside of Hackney, Boro are very excited about the potential of 17-year-old centre-back Harley Hunt, who they signed from Swindon Town this summer, and is a player who both Aston Villa and Manchester City had reportedly been tracking.

Teenage defender George McCormick also appears to have broken into Middlesbrough's first-team setup over the summer and hasn't looked out of place when given the opportunity to impress.

Fellow central midfielders Law McCabe and Fin Cartwright are both highly-rated too, whilst striker Ajay Matthews has been attracting the attention of a host of European clubs in recent times.

With their academy sides laden with youth internationals from across the globe, Middlesbrough could well be about to enter a golden generation for homegrown talent on Teesside.