Celtic have had a number of successful academy graduates make their way through to the first team at Parkhead over the years.
Callum McGregor and James Forrest are two great examples of players who have been able to rise through the ranks and establish themselves as key stars for the Hoops at senior level.
However, some talented prospects can slip through the cracks and that is what happened with left-back Aaron Hickey in Glasgow. He was brought to the club from Hearts in 2017 and did not make a single first-team outing as a teenager before Brendan Rodgers sanctioned his exit back to Tynecastle for nothing in the summer of 2018.
Two years later, Italian side Bologna snapped him up from the Scottish side and he is now attracting interest from England.
Fabrizio Romano recently reported that Premier League side Newcastle United are eyeing up a deal worth up to £20m for the youngster, which means his value has risen astronomically in the space of around four years. The Magpies are looking to snap him up this summer after watching him catch the eye in Italy this season.
In the Serie A, he has averaged an impressive SofaScore rating of 6.89 across 27 appearances. He has been able to showcase his attacking flair from full-back with four goals and one assist, whilst creating 0.5 chances per game.
Defensively, he has been solid throughout the campaign. Hickey has averaged 2.3 tackles and interceptions per game and has only been dribbled past 0.3 times per match, winning 60% of his overall duels in the Italian top-flight. This shows that he is a strong defender who also offers quality in possession, which makes him a modern-day full-back who can make an impact at both ends of the pitch.
At the age of 19, he also has the potential to improve further. He is in the infancy of his professional career and has plenty of time to develop further and progress as a left-back. If he is able to continue growing and raising his standards on the pitch then that £20m may start to look like a bargain and Celtic could rue their decision even more as time passes.
His former manager Daniel Stendl previously labelled him as an “extraordinary talent” and the youngster’s statistics in the Serie A at such a young age back that up.
Hickey’s form since leaving Celtic and his immense potential as a player prove that Rodgers made a huge blunder by not offering him a route to the first-team and allowing him to leave fo nothing. He slipped through the now-Leicester boss’ clutches and the Hoops will surely be wondering what could have been, as they look set to watch him seal a potential mega-money move this summer.
AND in other news, £3m wasted: Celtic had a shocker on £7.9k-p/w “loner” who rinsed Desmond for 129 weeks…
