Hearts have rejected ‘half-a-dozen’ Celtic offers for in-demand teenager, says Levein
Craig Levein has claimed Hearts rejected “half-a-dozen” offers from Celtic for Aaron Hickey while he was manager of the Tynecastle club.
The teenage defender is being courted by several clubs across Europe, with Bayern Munich and Bologna both said to be interested in the player who has under a year left on his contract.
Celtic have also been linked regularly with Hickey who was on the books of the Scottish champions as a youth player at one point.
Levein, who handed Hickey his debut in 2019, said Celtic had been persistent in their pursuit of the 18-year-old but Hearts owner Ann Budge did not want to sell.
“There have been offers previously,” Levein said. “Celtic tried to buy him back half-adozen times and that just got knocked back. There will be people who want to buy him, he’s a good age.
“Ann decided we didn’t want to sell him to Celtic for the offers that were made.”
Levein tried to get Hickey to sign a new contract with Hearts while he was manager. The player’s father and agent will play a key part in his next step, with Levein keen for Hickey to move to a club where he would be able to continue his development playing firstteam football.
Levein is of the belief that the player could return to a midfield role where he had performed in the academy before switching to full-back.
During the 2019-20 campaign he showed his versatility playing in four different positions as he emerged as one of the few positives from the season. “He played because he was training so well, that was fairly simple,” said Levein, who gave Hickey his debut against Celtic in May 2019.
“I did watch all of the youth games and reserves games and he steadily improved from the period where he came back to us from Celtic. I think it was [reserve team coach] Andy Kirk who moved him from a central midfield position to a left or right full-back and he really just took off from there.
“He’s got really good defensive qualities.
“Even myself had a
little doubt about throwing him in at Celtic Park but he proved that he’s more than capable of doing the job. He never seems to get flustered about anything. He’s diligent, works extremely hard, he loves the competitive side of things and also likes defending, which is a rare thing these days.
“I’m not sure if he’ll end up being a full-back, he might end up going back into the midfield area. I think he would be a fantastic holding midfield player with his great awareness of danger and his ability to get out of tight situations with the ball at his feet.”