Former Celtic target Aaron Hickey has scored for Serie A side Bologna tonight – prompting rumours that Celtic should have signed him after all and not had to put up with the left-hand side problems that Ange Postecoglou continues to face.
Bologna face Genoa in a north Italian clash tonight, and Hickey gave the home side a 1-0 lead over their opponents – only to be pegged back by their red and blue counterparts.
Hickey signed for Bologna in the summer of 2020 for a fee of £1.5million; which was well within Celtic’s budget, but the board chose not to act upon the steal from Hearts and instead chose to sign Diego Laxalt on loan from AC Milan – we all know how that worked out.
Photo: Jane Barlow
Seen as the second-coming of Kieran Tierney, Hickey turned down offers from European giants such as Bayern Munich before moving to Bologna on the promise that he would receive guaranteed first-team football in Emilia-Romagna – which he has done with 15 appearances before his season was cut short last season.
Celtic would have been well suited to sign the full-back, especially given the fact that he is familiar with the club having left at the age of 16 to join Hearts.
And his goal against Genoa is a timely reminder that Celtic’s defensive vulnerabilities could have been solved had they signed Hickey for that measly sum just 13 months ago.