Aaron Hickey finally reveals why he rejected Celtic offer

Aaron Hickey is one of those players at Celtic who got away. He was in the club’s youth sides at one point of time and has even admitted to being a supporter, but ultimately, he would never go on to play at the first-team level for the Hoops. Instead, he went on to join Hearts, and has enjoyed a meteoric rise in football.

Hickey would break into the Hearts’ team very early on in his career and was playing regular football for them for a while.

Then there were rumours of Celtic making a move to bring him back to Parkhead. But that did not end up happening and he made an interesting move to Italy by joining Bologna. That is where his career truly took off as he established himself as one of the brightest youngsters in the Serie A and made an £18 million move to Brentford this summer.

It must be pointed out that Celtic had actually offered him a contract to stay at the club even when he was at the youth levels, but he turned it down. But while speaking to Brentford’s official website and as reported by 67 Hail Hail, the Scottish left-back said:

"“I started off at Hearts when I was really young – I would’ve been around ten when I joined, and I stayed until I was 12.“Then I went to Celtic because it was my boyhood club. I went there for a good four years. Celtic offered me a contract, but I wasn’t playing much. I thought there would be a better opportunity for me to play at Hearts.“Being young, you have to play football. You have to make the right decisions.”"

Hickey explains why he decided to turn down Celtic’s contract offer

It is safe to say that it was a brave choice on the part of Hickey to turn down an offer from Celtic and join Hearts.

But it certainly paid off for him as he went on to enjoy a meteoric rise in the game and finds himself playing Premier League football at 20 years of age, not something many do.

The future is certainly bright for Hickey and he can go on to achieve big things in the game. On the other hand, Celtic are left questioning what could have been. There’s just something about the Hoops and missing out on left-backs.