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Celtic’s dealings in the transfer market have been praised from many quarters over the years.
The club’s player trading model helped Celtic to record record revenue of £124.6m in the last set of financial accounts.
So it is clear that when it comes to keeping Celtic financially stable, effective recruitment is key. So when stories emerge of Celtic failing to get players for a nominal fee who go on to become very successful, the fans can at times feel frustrated.
The story of John McGinn’s failed Celtic move is one that has plenty of caveats to it and is one that still stings to this day.
But speaking about young talent in Scotland, Mark Guidi shared how Celtic lost out on Aaron Hickey because they refused to pay Hearts what they were looking for the Scotland defender.
Celtic could have signed Aaron Hickey for an ‘extra’ £400,000
Hickey eventually moved to Bologna from Hearts where he was a success and earned his big transfer to Brentford.
When asked why Celtic or Rangers don’t look at signing young Scottish talent more often, Guidi believes that it could be down to how both clubs conduct their recruitment when he shared how much extra money Celtic baulked at to land Hickey when he was at Hearts.
Guidi said The Go Radio Football Show, “It could well be that the recruitment department, there’s probably not a lot of Scottish people in it, so maybe they don’t appreciate the talent that we’ve got, and therefore they’re looking maybe towards their home countries.
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“For example, Nils Koppen’s Dutch, so they’ve signed Propper and that’s just an example. The young fullback who came on as well, he’s Dutch too.
“So maybe they need more time to believe in Scottish football. But as Barry says, and let’s just even say in the past three years, there’s probably a dozen examples of players that have left and off the top of my head, Barry’s nephew obviously, Lewis.
“Aaron Hickey, Celtic could have and should have signed Aaron Hickey, but kind of stalled over with an extra £300k or £400k.”
Listen: How Celtic ‘stalled’ on buying Aaron HickeyWhat Aaron Hickey previously said about leaving Celtic for Hearts
Many Celtic fans know that Hickey started at Hearts and then moved to Celtic’s academy in 2014 for four years before he decided to return to Tynecastle in 2018.
Celtic where then linked to Hickey in 2020 but he eventually left to join Bologna for around £1.5m
After leaving the Bhoys in 2018, Hickey shared in 2022 why he decided to not renew his Celtic contract and make the Glasgow switch to Edinburgh.
Hickey 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.”
Lack of first-team football seems to be the ongoing theme of why young players decide to leave Celtic and Hickey’s story is still familiar with fans today.
However, now that Darren O’Dea has been appointed Celtic’s Player Pathway Manager the Hoops support will hope that losing the likes of young talent like Aaron Hickey is now going to be a thing of the pass.
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