Celtic had shown some initial interest- former Scotland boss reveals costly near miss over defender

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.