FANTASTICO
Gemmill is thrilled to have Hickey on board for Denmark clash after he became the first Scot to score in Serie A in 35 years
SCOT GEMMILL hailed Aaron Hickey after his historic goal in Serie A and is thrilled that he is part of Scotland’s embarrassment of riches at left-back.
The Scotland Under-21s boss has to decide whether to go with Bologna ace Hickey or Hibs’ Josh Doig in the role for the Euro 2023 qualifying clash with top seeds Denmark next month. Gemmill has also been able to include eleven players based in England in his 23-man squad after they were all unavailable for the opening draw in Turkey because of Covid restrictions. Former Hearts ace Hickey has until now missed out on playing for Gemmill’s side through injury. But after he became the first Scot to score in Serie A since Graeme Souness in 1986, when he netted for Bologna in their 2-2 draw with Genoa on Tuesday, Hickey is in line to win his first Under-21s cap against the Danes at Tynecastle. With Celtic’s Adam Montgomery also in the squad, Scotland have an abundance of classy left-backs now, with skipper Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney in the full squad. While Gemmill has a headache over who gets the nod, it’s a dilemma he is happy to have after hailing 19-year-old Hickey’s impact in Italy.
He said: “It’s fantastic he has been playing for Bologna, and it’s a great opportunity for him to experience being with the 21s, so it’s win-win for everyone.
“With Aaron, it’s such a highlyregarded league, a highlyregarded club and a highlyregarded coach. It’s fantastic to see but the challenge is still ahead because it’s now harder than ever to become a firstteam player.
“Historically, the pathway has changed for these players because they are competing with guys from all over the world to even get into their local team in Scotland, which wasn’t always the case.
“So for him to go to Serie A and do it the opposite way round really is very impressive.
“And not just on the pitch but off it as well. Hopefully, it’s just the start for him. “There’s nothing scientific behind having so many leftbacks but it’s obviously a good problem to have. “There are stats that show on the edges of teams, young players are trusted at an earlier age – you tend to find a lot of midfielders start playing on the sides, a lot of centre-halves as well. “It’s getting harder and harder to pick the squad. We have had to omit some really good players on this occasion and that’s not always been the case.” Gemmill insists the Scottish-based players who dropped out of the squad are still in his thoughts. He said: “It’s unusual for there to be so many changes but we lost a little bit of control last month with all the English-based players having to be replaced. “It probably fasttracked a few of the younger players. “But they did well in Turkey and the ones who dropped out will be disappointed. I’m sure they’ll be involved again.”