Aaron Hickey at times looked likely to be off to Celtic in the summer, but now he’s shining with Bologna in Serie A once again.
Hickey suffered a disappointing debut campaign with the Italian club after his high-profile move from Hearts. Requiring shoulder surgery at the start of 2021, his maiden campaign ended in anti-climactic fashion.
With his Bologna place seemingly lost, Celtic looked like they were about to seize on the uncertainty. Over the summer, the Hoops were heavily linked with a move for the left-back as Ange Postecoglou looked to rebuild his Hoops side.
Not that Bologna were willing to let him go on the cheap mind. The Serie A side reportedly wanted as much as £6.8m for the Scottish talent [Il Resto del Carlino, print edition, 06/07, page 68].
In the end, Bologna decided not to bother selling and Celtic moved on. In came Liam Scales whilst Adam Montgomery was given more responsibility at left-back for the Hoops.
As for Hickey, however, his stock is growing back once again as he finds his form.
Aaron Hickey becomes a staple of Bologna side as Celtic watch on
Hickey has started all five of Bologna’s Serie A matches so far this season. This has included valuable learning experience against the likes of Atalanta and Inter Milan respectively.
Sinisa Mihajlovic, the Bologna head coach, sees plenty in the youngster too. He’s stuck by Hickey despite his shoulder issues and was insistent throughout the summer that he didn’t want him going anywhere.
He’s since been rewarded for that faith with Hickey producing some big displays in Serie A so far this season. In the 1-0 win over Verona earlier this month, stat-trackers WhoScored gave him a fine rank of 7.1/10. But that was nothing compared to last night’s 2-2 draw with Genoa.
The stat experts ranked Hickey as the star-man with a 7.7/10 score. Not to mention he’s fresh off of bagging his first-ever goal for the club too. The left-back produced a powerful strike from outside the area to give his club the lead last night, and it’s only added to the momentum he’s been building since the start of the season.
Celtic will undoubtedly continue to monitor the player’s situation in the short and long-term. This is someone the Hoops clearly have their eye on, and a future move to Parkhead for Hickey is hardly out of the question.
But for now, he’s rebuilding his stock in Serie A and then some with a string of impressive performances. Hopefully, this is an option that pops up in the future for us once again.
In other news, Celtic winger Jota was one time linked with £15.4m Real Madrid move
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