Arsenal in Aaron Hickey transfer race with 19-year-old full-back having stunning season in Serie A with Bologna

ARSENAL are allegedly plotting a transfer swoop for Bologna starlet Aaron Hickey.

The 19-year-old left-back has been in stunning form for the Serie A side since his arrival in 2020.

Rex

Now the Scottish international appears to be on the transfer wishlist of Gunners boss Mikel Arteta.

Football.london states that Arsenal are considering Hickey as a summer transfer target after he impressed scouts with his displays.

Arteta wants to add a versatile left-sided defender to his backline before the start of next season.

Hickey operates mainly for Bologna at left full-back and has attracted interest from the likes of Newcastle, Manchester United and Napoli in the past.

However, he is just as comfortable operating down the right flank, making him an attractive option for the North London club.

Fellow Scot Kieran Tierney is currently Arteta’s No.1 left-back at Arsenal.

But his injury woes have forced the Gunners to rely heavily on the likes of fringe men Nuno Tavares and Cedric Soares in that position this term.

Now he hopes to solve that issue by bringing in an adequate back-up for Tierney once the window re-opens.

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Bologna will not allow their defensive starlet to depart on the cheap, with a fee of £16.8million mooted in these latest reports.

Hickey currently pockets around £7,8000-a-week at Bologna and would enjoy a decent pay rise with a switch to the Emirates.

After previously spending time in Celtic’s academy, he joined Heart of Midlothian in 2018 before his breakthrough campaign in the first-team led to his departure from Tynecastle.

Hickey rejected Bayern Munich’s advances in 2020 in order to make the move to Italy.

After winning caps at youth level, he made his senior international debut for Scorland on March 24 in a 1–1 draw with Poland and has two caps to his name.