While Celtic are hardly scrambling around down the back of the sofa for spare pennies, the Glasgow giants are not exactly bursting at the seems with spare cash either.
Ange Postecoglou spent around £15 million on new signings last summer and, as a result, one would assume Celtic will have to be a little more scrupulous this time around.
Perhaps that is why The Hoops abandoned a potential £3.3 million deal for Gremio’s Fernando Henrique, opting instead to snap up both Reo Hatate and Yosuke Ideguchi for a fraction of the Brazilian’s price-tag.
The Postecoglou re-build is only partially complete at this stage however – Celtic have laid the foundations but the ceiling could still cave in at any given moment.
A number of reinforcements are still required. At left-back, for instance, with Greg Taylor’s injury-enforced absence shining a UV light on the lack of depth in Ange’s squad.
Do Celtic have a chance of signing Aaron Hickey in 2022?
It was no surprise to see Aaron Hickey return to the gossip columns in the lead up to the January window, then. Celtic saw a £3.5 million rejected by Serie A outfit Bologna last summer but Hickey, who came through the ranks before moving on to Hearts in 2018, remains very much on the radar.
Unfortunately for Celtic, Hickey’s outstanding form in one of Europe’s top five leagues appears to have extinguished any lingering hopes they may have had of luring the Swashbuckling Scot back to his old stomping ground.
According to the Daily Record, Bologna want £15 million for Hickey these days.
Such a fee may be relative pocket change to Aston Villa’s billionaire owners – Steven Gerrard’s side are also in the race for Hickey’s signature – but Celtic are in no real position to break their transfer record on a single player when there is so much left to do at Parkhead.
As talented as he is, spending £15 million on Hickey would be like throwing all your funds at a new 4K TV and not having enough left to buy the remote control.
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