Hickey ends 659 days of hurt as Brentford & Scotland watch on

Rarely does an eight-minute cameo as a late substitute ever feel so endearing.

However, Aaron Hickey’s return to action is a welcome boost for Brentford, Scotland, and of course the player himself after almost two years of being away.

The former Hearts and Bologna star had not featured competitively for the Bees since October 2023 when he made his debut in the 88th minute at the City Ground, which Nottingham Forest had long since won.

He missed out on the entire 2024-25 Premier League season due to a serious injury, not just the Scottish European Championships from last summer.

In 2023, Chelsea faced off against them.

The young Scot, who had joined Bologna the year before moving up from the ranks to join Hearts, injured his hamstring during the Bees’ Premier League game against the Stamford Bridge club.

Before having surgery a second time, he also experienced a setback in his recovery during a training session in August 2024.

Any player’s potential is at risk in this uncertain and worrying time, but his potential was highlighted in a new contract signed for Brentford until at least the summer of 2028 in January this year.

All those connected to the club will be celebrating his eight touches down the right flank on Sunday.

According to Dundee manager Steven Pressley, who was the city’s head of individual player development, “he’s a player that, without a doubt, the feeling is in Brentford, can make another step.”

We at Brentford argued that Hickey could undoubtedly play for one of England’s top six sides if he were to put rhythm and games behind him and develop.

He is a top boy who has gone through a lot of difficult times mentally. He initially had a setback that required further surgery before he had to recover from his first hamstring injury.

It takes a lot of mental strength, attitude, and patience to endure such a spell.

And Hickey at Hearts’ collaborator Craig Levein has pleaded for the latter. However, he has no doubts about the teenager’s resilience and his ability to bounce back from Tynecastle better than ever.

One example of how unfazed Hickey was by the size of the challenge is the Scottish Cup final defeat to Celtic in 2019 (at the time) .

Levein recalled that “someone informed me to look at the back of the bus and we were on it all the way to Glasgow.” Aaron was lying asleep in the room as I approached him. Which I thought was the perfect summation. The biggest thing in his life belongs to him.

That just demonstrated that he wasn’t unaffected by what was about to occur. And he did a fantastic job of winning the match, to be fair. He did a fantastic job in Bologna, where he did incredibly well there. He truly carried the Scots’ torch in Italian football.

Then, after injury stopped him from succeeding, he moved to Brentford, where he was a hit from the beginning.

In his first season playing for the Bees in the 2022-23 campaign, he had established himself as the right-back in his own right-back role.

He has been put to a lot of mental and physical strain over the past few years, but Pressley thinks he will rebound stronger.

He said, “He’s incredibly gifted in terms of being able to play with both feet.”

You couldn’t even tell which was his stronger foot at times. He plays well in the middle of the pitch and is a modern-day fullback in that he can play from the fullback position and invert into the “six” position.

Following Hickey’s return, Brentford fans will be astounded as well. North of the border, too, will be awash.

Left-back, which features Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney on the opposite side, has long been a source of debate in Scotland. However, the Tartan Army has long been upset about it.

On September 5 in Copenhagen, Scotland will begin their bid for World Cup qualification, and Steve Clarke will be naming his team right away.

Former national team coach Levein expressed his confidence that he will return to where he was.

“I’m anticipating seeing him play.” I predict that he’ll be a hit with Scottish fans. Steve Clarke will be delighted to welcome him back.

He’s the first player in the squad, you know, because he almost feels like a pair because of his ability to play both right-back and left-back equally well.