Aaron Hickey has been linked with a sensational move to Manchester City, once again highlighting that there is talent in the domestic market.
What makes it all the more galling is that the former Hearts wing-back was available and in our price range before he left for Serie A and Bologna.
Borna Barisic and James Tavernier were established first-choice full-backs in 2019 but between the two flanks, the then teenager would have played regularly as a backup.
The youngster’s breakthrough year saw Rangers linked to the Scotland international and Craig Levein having to fend off the reports of Ibrox interest in Aaron Hickey.
Alan Nixon, writing on his Patreon site, is the journalist who has claimed that Pep Guardiola is a fan of the 20-year old and he’s not exactly a bad judge of player.
In terms of fee, it’s not really known what Brentford would demand but it will be significantly more than the £1.5m Bologna paid when he left the SPFL.
Having paid £14m for the two-footed full-back, The Bees will be looking at a potentially massive fee.
Why Rangers should learn from Aaron Hickey’s link to Man City
Between Hickey’s rise and Lewis Ferguson being linked with a move to Juventus, Ross Wilson definitely dropped a clanger not bringing the pair to Ibrox.
In Wilson’s defence, Calvin Bassey was signed to cover Barisic before being a success at centre-half and bringing in a sizeable fee himself.
The home-grown quota is a serious issue though and Rangers will need to address it this summer, one way or another.
There is a shortage of players in the SPFL who would improve or add quality to Michael Beale’s squad but there are players out there.
Lawrence Shankland or Kevin Nisbet have been mooted, the only issue is that they would know that they would be giving up a weekly start.
Like John Souttar, we might see players come in who we know won’t play every week and yet can be trusted to do a job when they are called upon.
They might not be on the same level as Hickey but Allan Campbell and Ryan Porteous were available for little over a combined £500k.
One of them could be playing in the Premier League and the other just strolled a Scotland international against Spain.
If Scottish talent is good enough for Pep, it should be good enough for us.
