AaronHickey

Aaron Hickey made his professional debut for Heart of Midlothian as a sixteen-year-old in the penultimate game of the 2018/19 season, before starting the Scottish Cup final against Celtic two weeks later. He established himself as a first team regular at Hearts in the 2019/20 season, scoring his first professional goal against Edinburgh rivals Hibernian to secure a 2-1 victory in September 2019. Hickey signed for Italian Serie A side Bologna in September 2020 and was nominated for the Golden Boy award at the end of his debut season with the club. The following season he made 36 appearances for the club, becoming the first Scotsman to score five goals in a single Serie A campaign since Graeme Souness in 1985. Having just turned 20, Hickey signed for English Premier League side Brentford in the summer of 2022 and went on to make 26 league appearances in his debut season with the club. A serious injury at the beginning of the 2023/24 season kept him out of action for nearly two years, before he made his comeback to first team football after 659 days in August 2025. At international level, Hickey was capped three times for Scotland’s Under-17 side before making his full international debut during a friendly match with Poland in March 2022. Injury meant he missed almost two years of football, including a place in Scotland’s EURO 2024 squad, but the defender made his return to Steve Clarke’s side during the opening qualifying match for the 2026 World Cup in September 2025. He made five appearances in the qualifying campaign as the men’s national team topped their group and secured a place at the World Cup for the first time since 1998.