Craig Levein has revealed that Celtic were in the mix when Aaron Hickey moved from Hearts to Bologna in September 2020.
As a teenager Hickey switched between the Celtic and Hearts Academies, at the age of 16 he decided to turn pro at Tynecastle with a clear path towards first team football.
At the end of his first season he played twice against Celtic, facing up to Karamoko Dembele in the final SPFL match of the 2018/19 season then impressing in the Scottish Cup Final a week later.
Owen Moffat was the most successful of his 2002 Celtic team-mates but with Blackpool and Dunfermline on his CV his progress pales compared to Hickey who remains in an upward trajectory after impressing at Bologna and Brentford.
Since allowing Hickey to go to Hearts in the summer of 2018 Celtic have spent heavily on Boli Bolingoli and Alexandro Bernabei. Greg Taylor has held off the big money competition with Diego Laxalt another expensive misfit, joining Celtic on loan on 5 October 2020 with Hickey switching to Bologna on September 24 for £1m.
Recalling the Scotland defender’s Tynecastle exit Levein told Football Scotland:
Yeah, there was some conversations at a basic level. It was round about the time I was leaving, so I didn’t do the Hickey transfer to Bologna. But Celtic had shown some initial interest.
I know that Bayern Munich were in because his dad phoned me for a chat about what my thoughts were on where he should go. So they were in for him as well but for me that was a no-no because he’d been playing regularly for Hearts and at the club he went to, he needed to be able to continue that progress and to do that he needed to play first-team football.
I believe that the decision between his agent and his dad was based around where is he going to have the best chance to continue playing first team football. And from that point of view I think they made a good call.
It seems that fairly soon after selling Hickey to Hearts as a 16-year-old Celtic were trying to bring him back.
A 30% sell-on clause for his move to Bologna is little consolation with massive bids expected by Brentford for a very modern day defender that looks equally at home in either full-back position.
CLICK HERE for Hickey’s Transfermarkt.
But predicting who from a team of talented 14 or 15 year olds will be a first-team starter at 20 is notoriously difficult. For every Shay Given, Aaron Hickey or Andy Robertson, there is a Karamoko Dembele or an Islam Ferruz – hyped up to feck and given every advantage in coaching only to then reach the ceiling of their potential the minute they are given a first team start.
Editor: The Academy and St Ninian’s project have completely failed. Hickey v the other Celtic 2002 prospects underlines that. No first teamer has emerged since KT in 2015. No hype on any current players.
Not disagreeing that it needs shaken up because at present it is not providing much by way of players for the first team, which is its sole purpose – running youth development teams is not done for ‘social reasons’. Our bloated first team squad is another block on a pathway from the youth ranks to the starting XI. Until that route to being a first team player exists, youth development will benefit other clubs rather than us, because every ‘prospect’ will be leave and go on to play elsewhere – whether it’s for Brentford or Benburb. Of the best two recent prospects, one (Doak) left for Liverpool despite some exposure to the first team aged 16 and the other (Vata) clearly has one foot out the door. Maybe the academy / St Ninians set-up is to blame, but it’s hard to tell if none of the players it produces ever see the light of day in the first team to test them, although the odd one making it after leaving suggests it can’t be all that bad.
Once again Spew Heevins writes about sevco without being to heavy handed with his critism towards the new klub this auld fud is chancer of the highest quality.
Not once does he mention the words CRISIS or CHAOS which are words he used to describe us a couple of weeks back.
Look at the STATE that klub are in over at ibrox and nobody has called it out yet as CRISIS or a DISASTER or even CHAOS,so just what does it take for those words to be used to describe the klan klub from ibrox.
Keevins – The wannabe Hun…
Even if he wanted to speak the truth about Sevco his editor wouldn’t allow the very slightest murmur about them –
They are all lies and utter LIARS hence the reason that I won’t buy them or even online them…
Paying good money to read Lies is definitely not on ma agenda for sure –
I’d rather drink a pint of cold vomit than buy or read any of these chancers that masquerade as ‘journalists’ in this rancid football country !
Ed. Please don’t show pictures of lawwell and Bankier. Just don’t like them: at all!