Aaron Hickey set for European move: Ten other Brits abroad graded

Hearts’ 18 year-old left-back is reportedly being chased by a whole host of big clubs across Europe including Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Bologna and Aston Villa.

For Hickey Bologna are believed to be of particular interest to the teenage full-back, with the Italian side prepared to meet his reported price tag of £1.5million.

The team’s sporting director Walter Sabatini appeared to confirm their interest in the player who is entering the final year of their contract when he told the press “It’s no secret we are looking for a full back and a centre midfielder because the team needs to be reinforced,” said Sabatini. He expanded by saying, “From an economic point of view, we feel there is better value in the market outside Italy. If you want a tip about our next signing, I can tell you he will be a young player from abroad.”

The Scotland Under-17 international broke into the Hearts first-team this season, making 30 competitive appearances, and if he realises his potential he will be the latest Scottish left-back to make waves on the big stage after Liverpool’s Andy Robertson and Arsenal’s Kieran Tierney.

In recent years we have started to see lots more young British players signing for clubs abroad. Much is known already about Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho who could be set to move back to the UK and join Manchester United. But how are other British youngsters faring while playing their club football overseas? We decided to grade a select ten of them:

The England Under-21 international has had a lot of game time at the Serie A strugglers after spending two full seasons with Leeds in the Championship.

Joined Monaco in 2018 after 8 years at Chelsea’s academy. Has mainly played for their reserve side since, but enjoyed a loan spell in the Belgian top-flight with Cercle Brugge this season.

Became the first English player since David Platt in 1992 to play for Juventus, and was a regular for their B team in Serie C during the 2018-19 season. Impressed on loan at Dijon this season and has been rewarded with a £5.7 million move to fellow Ligue 1 club Montpellier.

Broke into Schalke’s first team this season, playing 21 games, and now regularly gets into the Wales squad. Needs to score and assist more at senior level though.

Mainly played for PSV’s Under-19 side this season, with occasional appearances for the Under-21s and first team. But showed good end product, scoring 11 goals and assisting 9 in 18 youth games this season.

The former Spurs man was linked to some of Europe’s biggest clubs and considered one of England’s best young talents but his failure to break into their first team amidst rumours of attitude problems held him back. Had a strong season at Vitoria though after a decent year on loan at the Netherlands.

Burst onto the scene aged 16 at West Ham. His career has stuttered ever since. Quiet loan spells at Reading, Borussia Mönchengladbach and Augsburg led to the latter team taking a chance on him permanently but he’s still struggled for first-team action.

The Scottish Under-21 international scored 4 goals in 14 games on loan at Kortrijk in the Belgian Pro League this season. That was enough to convince Ligue 1’s Reims to buy him from Everton this summer for around £2million.

The German-born player teen is at the centre of a tussle between his birth country and England; where he mainly grew up. It makes sense given how much he has progressed this season, starting it by playing for Bayern’s Under-17s, being promoted to the Under-19s late last year and ending the season as a regular in their second team with a debut Bundesliga appearance to add to that.

In September, Appiah joined Spanish Segunda Division outfit Almeria for a sizeable £8million sum despite only making 8 senior appearances for Nottingham Forest beforehand. He has since played 22 games for them this season but his end product was disappointing with only 1 goal and no assists.