Injury-plagued Scotland ace offers Steve Clarke lift as 'Scottish Modric' stars in cup final victory

Scotland defender Aaron Hickey is in line for to return to Brentford squad for their game against Ipswich Town at the weekend after stepping up his comeback from a hamstring injury that has sidelined him for 556 days.

The ex-Hearts academy graduate made a £17million move from Bologna back in the summer of 2022, and featured prominently for Thomas Frank’s side until he picked up a hamstring injury, that required two surgeries, during a 2-0 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on 28 October 2023.

After a nightmare spell on the treatment table, Hickey has slowly but surely began to build up his match fitness by making appearances for the Bee’s youth sides. He played his first minutes of football in late February, when he featured in the first-half of Brentford B’s win against Birmingham City academy, where he scored the game’s opening goal.

Aaron Hickey of Brentford passes the ball whilst under pressure from Heung-Min Son of Tottenham Hotspur. | Getty Images

Brentford head coach Frank confirmed the 22-year-old, who recently signed a new three-year contract at the Gtech Community Stadium, was ‘on track’ to make his first team comeback before the end of the season after returning to training, telling the media last week: “It’s very positive. Everyone is available for the last game. Fingers crossed for that. When they are training fully with the team, they are definitely close. How close, we will see over the next one to two weeks.”

Following those comments from the Danish boss, Hickey had his longest run out yet, playing 61 minutes of Brentford under 21’s 3-0 win over Barnsley under 21’s on Monday, with the defender grabbing the assist for the second goal that was scored by Paris Maghoma. Hickey’s return now injects hope that he could potentially put himself in the frame for a Scotland recall ahead of next month’s friendly ties with Iceland and Lichtenstein.

Meanwhile, highly-rated 18-year-old Scottish star Aidan Borland continues to see his reputation blossom, after leading his Aston Villa side to an impressive 3-1 victory over Manchester City in the FA Youth Cup final at Villa Park on Monday. The Scotland under-19 international made his senior debut for the Villain’s earlier this season - coming off the bench during the 2-1 Carabao Cup win over Wycombe Wanderers in September - where his playing style was compared to that of Real Madrid’s iconic midfielder Luka Modric.

Aidan Borland of Aston Villa poses for a photograph with teammate Cole Brannigan and The FA Youth Cup trophy. | Getty Images

A regular starter for the club’s youth sides this season, the teen skippered the team to their fifth FA Youth Cup win in history, and their first since 2021, in front of over 25,000 fans at Villa Park, as they humbled a talented City outfit that had entered game on the back of 27 wins in a row in all competitions. While Cityzens’ Harrison Miles opened the scoring early on, first-half goals from TJ Carroll, and Cole Brannigan put the home side into the driving seat, before Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba ensured it was Borland and his Villa teammates would who lift the trophy with a clinching third goal.

Borland, who left Celtic to join the EPL high fliers in August 2023 for a reported fee of £300,000, will hope to follow in the footsteps of former Hoops academy talents such as Ben Doak after being handed his first professional contract in April of last year.