How 'unfazed' ex Hearts star overcame devastating injury to earn Scotland recall after two-year absence
Defender is fit-again and back playing for Brentford after a tortuous 24 months that tested his mental strength and attitude to the max
For Aaron Hickey, the road to recovery from a serious hamstring injury has been a long and arduous one.
Now back playing for English Premier League side Brentford after a 659 absence from competitive action, the former Hearts and Bologna defender has had to battle through some dark times over the past 24 months.
It’s to Hickey’s credit that he has overcome such a torrid period in his career to earn an international recall to Steve Clarke’s Scotland squad ahead of the latest World Cup qualifying campaign, which gets underway against Denmark and Belarus next month.
“He’s very single-minded and determined,” Clarke admitted when asked about Hickey’s character and temperament to overcome a nightmare year to earn his first call-up since the 2-0 defeat in Spain back in October 2023.
“He knows what he wants to do. I just find him to be a good person. I had a really good chat with him last week. Nothing seems to faze him. He's been two years out, or almost two years out at that stage of your career, which could be a very difficult thing. He wasn't fazed at all.
“He was really looking forward to being in the squad. When he went to Italy, he just went out there, did what he did, played the way he plays. He got his move back to the Premier League and I think before he picked up the injury, he was actually linked with some of the top six clubs in the English Premier League, which shows you the quality that he's got.
“We've also got to remember he's been out for two years and we do have to look after him on the way back in, both ourselves and Brentford.
“Probably with the two games back-to-back it's going to be difficult for him to play two 90 minutes for sure. But if we can get him on the pitch at some stage and he can show the qualities that he's shown, I think we'll be really delighted with him.”
Clarke: Craig Gordon still in my thought-process amid goalkeeping headache
Meanwhile, the goalkeeping department has been a problematic position for Clarke in recent months after being faced with a severe injury crisis during the previous camp.
Widespread injuries to key players such as Angus Gunn and Craig Gordon as well as the lack of minutes played by Zander Clark and Liam Kelly for their parent clubs meant Clark had to call pitch inexperienced duo Cieran Slicker and Celtic’s third-choice stopper Ross Doohan for the summer friendlies.
And while there are fewer injury concerns this time around with Gunn, Kelly and Clark all back in the fold, Clarke admits the situation is still far from ideal with only Clark playing regularly at Hearts so far this season.
He also confessed that veteran keeper Craig Gordon remains in his thought-process as he continues to work his way back to full fitness.
“I spoke with Craig at the end of last season,” Clarke declared. “I was speaking to people at Hearts who say he’s now working his way back. He's not yet in full training. He didn't make this camp, but hopefully he can be available for the next one and then I've got a choice to make for the next one.
“I've got three goalkeepers who were very much part of our last squad. We've got the three goalkeepers that went to the Euros with us last summer. I think the goalkeeping line up for this camp will be okay.”
Jambos striker Lawrence Shankland was arguably the most notable exclusion from the latest 25-man after a strong start to the campaign in Gorgie.
Quizzed on how tough it was to make the call, Clarke responded: “It's difficult to leave anybody out of the squad. It's never an easy choice. I have to go with the players I feel can affect these two matches and unfortunately for Lawrence this time, he wasn't selected, but he does know he was close.”