da dobrowin： Celtic tried to sign former Hearts left-back Aaron Hickey from Bologna during the summer, according to Italian outlet Corriere dello Sport (via Sport Witness).
The lowdown
da realsbet： Hickey was actually on Celtic’s books between 2017 and 2018 before rejoining their Edinburgh counterparts.
He then enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2019/20, making 22 Scottish Premiership appearances and catching the eye.
Bologna boss Sinisa Mihajlovic says Hickey possesses ‘both personality and quality’ and has a ‘great future ahead of him’ in the game.
Last year, he featured on a list compiled by the CIES Football Observatory of the 100 most valuable most young players in the top-five leagues. Also on the list were the likes of Jadon Sancho, Mason Greenwood, Bukayo Saka and Phil Foden.
The latest
The report states that Celtic, along with their arch-rivals Rangers, made approaches ‘again’, indicating that he’s a long-term target.
There was also interested from English Premier League side Aston Villa but Bologna made clear to Hickey’s suitors that he was ‘absolutely not transferable’.
The verdict
Celtic’s left-back situation has been described as a ‘mess’ which ‘captures the squad’s dysfunction’ by The Athletic’s Kieran Devlin, but it’s hard to imagine it would have been a problem position had they been able to pull off a deal for Hickey.
Unfortunately for the Hoops, it seems unlikely that Hickey would go back to Scotland having established himself in one of Europe’s big-five leagues.
That may feel like something of a sideways step for a player who’s attracting interest in England and no doubt beyond.
In other news, there’s been positive news on a key Celtic player.