Former Celtic Academy prospect Aaron Hickey has landed in the English Premier League this summer after making a £17m move to Brentford from Bologna. [BBC]
Hickey has signed a four-year deal at the Bees, linking up with another former Celtic player Kristoffer Ajer.
Hickey’s association in Scottish football is primarily thought of as with Hearts, but he spent four years in the Celtic Academy between the age of 12 and 16. [BBC]
In search of first-team minutes despite his young age, he moved to Tynecastle in 2018 and ended up making over 30 appearances before a high-profile switch to Bologna.
Over the years, Celtic have attempted to bring him back to Glasgow.
Craig Levein once revealed the Bhoys tried to sign him ‘five or six’ times after he made the breakthrough into the Jam Tarts’ senior side. [BBC]
More recently he was linked with a switch to Ange Postecoglou’s incarnation of the Bhoys.
Last year The Scottish Sun reported we had made a £3.5m bid for his services to the Serie A club, who wanted to retain him for a further season.
Bologna’s stance looks to have paid off, now receiving money far in excess of what Celtic would have paid for the Scotland international.
Ultimately it just looks like it was never to be for Hickey and the Bhoys, despite him once proclaiming he is a Celtic supporter.
He was always unlikely to get senior football at such a young age with Celtic but went on to take his opportunities elsewhere. Fair play to him.
It’ll certainly be interesting to see how he gets on in the English Premier League over the coming season.
In other news, “I want to break that stigma and show everyone”; Mikey Johnston sets out Celtic ambition after struggles.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
