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Aaron Hickey’s Bologna decision, Roger Mitchell’s thoughtful gesture, Celtic’s worrying trend

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Did Celtic miss out on Aaron Hickey? I think we probably did. The player himself has admitted Celtic offered the former youth player a contract on more than one occasion. Yet if we did miss out, we’re in illustrious company.

Bayern Munich, already making a habit of mining Celtic youth products as Hickey once was with the signings of Liam Morrison last season and Barry Hepburn this year also courted the player, invited him to Bavaria and got the same knockback as Celtic.

Yesterday the third favourite in a three-horse race won the race to sign one of Scotland’s most sought-after young players. Besides Celtic and Bayern Munich, Hickey was interesting Manchester City and Lyon before deciding on Serie A side Bologna.

With Celtic seeking a left back, the versatility of Hickey may have been invaluable. The youngster can play both sides of the pitch in a full back role and in time you’d assume given his style of play that Central midfield or defensive midfield would have been his ultimate position. The disadvantage Celtic and Bayern Munich had with Aaron Hickey – and the reason he appears to have joined Bologna and resisted the big club temptation – seems to be first team exposure and soon. Fair play to him for that.

Hickey himself needs to be praised for taking the plunge. At 18 years of age and with 33 first team appearances already under his belt he is probably acutely aware that his development could be stunted by not giving himself the best opportunity of getting top level football. He knew he had to move on from a relegated Hearts side to progress himself but he also knew he had to balance the improved training and coaching on offer at Celtic with a role as a squad player at best.

At Bayern Munich a pathway plan with six monthly appraisals and fully personalised and adaptable coaching plans could have made him technically proficient but would it have made up for a lack of first team exposure and learning on the job?

Hickey appears to have weighed up the opportunities offered and decided of the three options Bologna offered the quickest route to playing every week. It’s hard to argue that playing regularly in a good league won’t improve Hickey. Being outside his comfort zone in a new country and footballing and cultural environment will also help his growth off the pitch. It’s a brave decision and it may well be the most sensible of all the options on the table. With so few Scottish footballers willing in the past to take the plunge and head for alternative footballing environments it’s to Hickey and others credit that more appear to be doing so now. For Celtic however it’s perhaps a little more concerning.

Incidentally someone who could be of great assistance to Hickey is a fellow Celtic supporter, who has been living in Italy for years. The former SPL CEO Roger Mitchell made a very kind offer on social media and asked for anyone who knows the youngster to pass on his message.

“I don’t have any means to contact this lad. I’d just like to offer him free and unencumbered help with his move to my old city and italy in general. I moved to bologna as a very young man. Id want to share my joys and challenges. Pass it on if anyone knows him,” the former SPL boss wrote.

Back to Celtic. Given the club’s position as the undisputed powerhouse of Scottish football to see any Scottish talent head to foreign climes or down south without first having gone through the filter of Celtic is disappointing. Celtic having already started haemorrhaging our own top academy products and now look like they are missing out on young Scottish talent under our noses, this one with previous time spent at the club and a self-confessed Celtic supporter.

Be it the players we rear or others coming through in our own stomping ground, Celtic are missing out. Now it could be that we’ve just been unlucky or indeed that Celtic tried all they could and the players simply wanted to try something else, but is there something we could do to be more persuasive and ensure we don’t miss out in future? In the case of Hickey, with Greg Taylor the only real left back option, surely there was a pathway to the first team at Celtic. Did we sell that as an option or were we looking more at a development contract?

One of the benefits of Scottish football being so financially hamstrung in the last few years is just how many young players are getting first team exposure and early on in their careers. At Celtic we seem to be stifling that opportunity somewhat. James Forrest, Callum McGregor, Kieran Tierney and Mikey Johnston have all come through and made it to the first team but others seem frustrated if Karamoko Dembele for instance is anything to go by.

Of course, who is to say the likes of Morrison or Hepburn would have made it at Celtic but you can guarantee they had the talent at an early age otherwise Bayern Munich wouldn’t have been so keen to remove all obstacles and make an offer the players couldn’t refuse. The same goes for Hickey, the talent was obvious.

Hickey of course has made his decision and you’d have to respect that. Celtic have also managed to secure the talent of David Turnbull from Motherwell so it’s not as if we are not paying attention to the Scottish market entirely. Yet with the likes of John McGinn heading south with similar Celtic leanings to Hickey, it’s a concern we are perhaps taking our eye off the ball with talent close to home.

With other stand out performers in the Scottish leagues attracting attention such as Lewis Ferguson at Aberdeen, Ali McCann at St Johnstone or Allan Campbell and Liam Donnelly at Motherwell you can only hope Celtic are planning ahead and are aware of these talents.

To lose our own prospects to Bayern Munich in Morrison and Hepburn, and Josh Adam to Manchester City seems to indicate a worrying trend. To then be unable to persuade Hickey that Celtic rather than Bologna was a route to first team exposure is also concerning.

We may not be able to compete for first team ready stars in the open market with big European clubs, if we’re also starting to lose out on Scottish talent at a young age – and in this instance, far from a European big hitter- that’s an altogether more alarming development.

Niall J

About Author

As a Bellshill Bhoy I was taken to my first Celtic game in the summer of 1987. It was Billy McNeill’s return to Celtic Park as manager and Celtic lost 5-1 to Arsenal . I thought I was a jinx, I think my Grandfather might have thought the same. It was the finest gift anyone ever gave me when he walked me through Parkhead's gates.

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