Aaron Hickey completes £17m Brentford move as Aberdeen and Hibs duo set for Serie A switch

Brentford have signed Scotland defender Aaron Hickey from Bologna for a £17m fee including add-ons.

The 20-year-old, capped four times at senior level by his country, has agreed a four-year contract with the Premier League club.

His former club, Hearts, are due a six-figure fee from a sell-on clause negotiated into his contract when he moved to Italy in September 2020.

Bees boss Thomas Frank told the club’s official website: “He is only 20 and has played a full season in Scotland as well as almost two seasons in Serie A.

“We think that Aaron is a player with great potential, who already has an impressive number of games at a good level under his belt.

“We believe that we have proven we are a good club for players to maximise their potential. We think we can help him be even better.”

Hickey made his senior debut for Scotland in a 1-1 friendly draw against Poland in March and played the full 90 minutes in last month’s World Cup play-off defeat to Ukraine.

The Glasgow-born full-back started out in Celtic’s academy before turning professional with Hearts, for whom he made his Scottish Premiership debut aged 16.

Aaron Hickey has completed a £17m move from Bologna to EPL side Brentford. (Photo by Mario Carlini / Iguana Press/Getty Images)

At 18, he moved to Bologna after one full season at the Tynecastle side, and was a regular for the Serie A side last season, making 36 league appearances, scoring five goals.

As one Scotland international departs Bologna, another is set to join with Aberdeen midfielder Lewis Ferguson on the verge of completing a move to the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara.

According to the Daily Mail, Ferguson will miss Aberdeen’s trip to Peterhead in the Premier Sports Cup on Sunday as he travels to Italy to seal a £3m transfer, following in the footsteps of Hickey in joining Sinisa Mihajlovic's side.

Another Scottish youngster, Hibs left-back Josh Doig, is also nearing a switch to Serie A with Hellas Verona reported to have agreed a £3m transfer fee for the Scotland Under-21 international.

Aberdeen's Lewis Ferguson is nearing a £3m move to Serie A side Bologna. (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)

Doig will travel to Italy in the coming days to discuss personal terms with Verona, who finished ninth in last year’s top flight, and won’t be involved in Saturday’s season opener against Clyde in the Premier Sports Cup. He is believed to have said his goodbyes to staff and team-mates on Friday morning.

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