Despite a claim from Mike McGrath of The Telegraph on Monday night that he was Celtic bound it looks like Aaron Hickey is poised to sign for Bologna.
In a tweet late on Tuesday night the well-connected Stephen McGowan was very clear about Hickey’s movements with a fee of £1.3m taking him to the Italian side despite reported interest from Celtic and the new Champions League winners.
If true it completes a remarkable tale for the teenager who left the Celtic Academy in the summer of 2018 to sign professional terms for Hearts. It is believed that Celtic have a 30% cut on any transfer fee.
Hearts left-back Aaron Hickey wants to make £1.3m move to Serie A Bologna despite interest from Bayern Munich and others.
— stephen.mcgowan (@mcgowan_stephen) August 25, 2020
#CelticFC are set to win the race for #Hearts full-back Aaron Hickey. The 18yr old had interest from English Premier League clubs after playing regularly last season
— Mike McGrath (@mcgrathmike) August 24, 2020
While Neil Lennon has given gentle encouragement regarding Celtic’s interest in David Turnbull and Shane Duffy there has been no comment on Hickey.
After selling Kieran Tierney Celtic brought in Boil Bolingoli and Greg Taylor as replacements with Jonny Hayes also featuring at left-back last season.
The Belgian looks unlikely to play again for Celtic leaving Taylor as the man in possession. Bringing in competition will be something Lennon is looking to do but at the age of 18 Hickey is a year or two behind Taylor in terms of development and would need to be nursed along towards being pitched in to the first team this season.