Celtic missed out on signing £30m defender by stalling over £400k

Celtic have a lot of near-miss transfer stories in their recent history. Most people will remember how they did not sign Ivan Toney, instead bringing in Albian Ajeti. Or how they failed to get a deal over the line for John McGinn during Brendan Rodgers' first stint at Parkhead. There is another high-profile name that the club have missed out on in recent years. Someone who could have solved a lot of their problems.

Left-back has been viewed as an area of weakness for Celtic by many. Greg Taylor has been the regular starter there for the past several seasons.

Plenty of fans believe that Celtic can improve there though. And someone like Aaron Hickey would have certainly represented that.

Celtic had the opportunity to bring back Hickey, he was part of their youth ranks, when he was at Hearts. But they stalled over his transfer fee and he ended up joining Bologna instead. It was an unconventional move for a Scottish youngster but one that paid off.

Celtic missed out on signing £30m defender by stalling over £400k

As reported by CeltsAreHere, Mark Guidi said on Go Radio:

"Aaron Hickey, Celtic could have and should have signed Aaron Hickey, but kind of stalled over an extra £300k or £400k."

This, unfortunately, has not been a rare story for Celtic in recent years. To be fair, the club have shown a bit more assertiveness in recent years. They shelled out a club-record fee to bring in Arne Engels from FC Augsburg this summer. The Hoops also paid a figure close to that for Adam Idah after his successful loan spell last season.

In the left-back position, they have brought in Alex Valle on loan from FC Barcelona. The youngster has shown flashes of quality in his appearances for the club so far. If his stint proves to be a successful one, it would be interesting to see if the Hoops try to bring him permanently.