Celtic tried to sign player now valued at £50 million

Celtic have done a pretty good job in recent years when it comes to identifying talents. Of course, the first season under the management of Ange Postecoglou was remarkable as they brought in players like Kyogo, Jota, Josip Juranovic, Giorgos Giakoumakis, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Reo Hatate, Daizen Maeda, Matt O’Riley, Liel Abada and more.

They were unable to replicate that rate of success in the following campaign. And it remains to be seen how things turn out for this summer’s signings. Luis Palma has been showing plenty of potential lately.

There is one player who left the Celtic youth ranks, who the club did try to bring back in 2020. The move did not happen though and he has gone on to become one of the best young full-backs in the game.

Of course, we are talking about Aaron Hickey. Former Hearts manager Craig Levein has confirmed that the Hoops were indeed interested in a reunion with the youngster before he joined Bologna.

Celtic tried to sign former player now valued at £50 million

As reported by Football Scotland, Levein said:

"“Yeah, there was some conversations at a basic level. It was round about the time I was leaving, so I didn’t do the Hickey transfer to Bologna. But Celtic had shown some initial interest.“I know that Bayern Munich were in because his dad phoned me for a chat about what my thoughts were on where he should go. So they were in for him as well but for me that was a no-no because he’d been playing regularly for Hearts and at the club he went to, he needed to be able to continue that progress and to do that he needed to play first-team football.“I believe that the decision between his agent and his dad was based around where is he going to have the best chance to continue playing first team football. And from that point of view I think they made a good call.”"

Hickey would end up joining Bologna, even though there were links with Celtic as well as Bayern Munich. And it has proven to be the right decision in hindsight.

Hickey would enjoy a solid rise at Bologna that caught the eye of clubs around Europe and he joined Brentford in 2022. He has continued to perform at a high level in the Premier League as well and that has seen him being linked with the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool lately.

Of course, his transfer value has skyrocketed over the last few years as well. It is expected to take a figure north of £50 million to sign Hickey these days. Now, it remains to be seen what the future holds for the former Celtic youth player.