Aaron Hickey insists he isn’t fazed by anything football throws at him but admits counting Romeo Beckham as a good pal takes a bit of getting used to.
The Brentford defender’s rapid ascent from Hearts to Bologna and on to the Bees has coincided with cementing himself as a Scotland mainstay with every hurdle climbed with aplomb. It’s a meteoric rise which is based on the bigger, the better approach for the 21-year-old. But as Hickey prepares to line up against Georgian dangerman Khvicha Kvaratskhelia tonight at Hampden, he revealed it’ll be far less daunting than popping into the Beckham family home with Romeo who’s part of Brentford’s B team.
He said: “It’s been really fast for me. Obviously, recently I moved club, moved country, got called up for Scotland and I’m meeting different people. It’s all come fast but I’m enjoying it all so far. One of them is Romeo Beckham in the B team so we are quite pally. I see him every day in the changing rooms and we hang out together. It’s funny, yeah. His dad is David Beckham, which is a bit of a weird one, but Romeo is a great guy. He is humble as well.
“He is a decent player and he’s in the reserve squad. I don’t really see too much but, from what I’ve heard, he seems to be decent.
“I haven’t met his dad. I’ve been round to his house a few times but Beckham Snr hasn’t been there. He is in the club sometimes just walking around but I haven’t met him or his mum.”
That last-gasp recovery to sink Norway on Saturday now has Scotland attempting to win the opening four qualifiers of any campaign as Georgia arrive in Glasgow and Hickey will be tasked with keeping tabs on Napoli’s superstar Kvaratskhelia and it’s a challenge he’ll accept with relish.
He said: “Funny enough I actually do enjoy the bigger challenges. I like to play against the top players. This is another good challenge for me and I will enjoy it.
“Kvaratskhelia plays on the left and I’ve watched him in Serie A and in the Champions League last season, you can tell he’s a top player and everyone knows that.
“He’s very good with one v ones and we all know as a team he’s one of their key players so we have to work together to try and shut him down as much as we can.
“We played against top players in Norway and we faced Erling Haaland, Martin Odegaard and other top players so we know we can believe in ourselves and hopefully we can just do our best.”
Steve Clarke’s squad are riding a wave of confidence after opening wins over Cyprus, Spain and Norway and Hickey is adamant all of the euphoria from the weekend’s triumph has been parked as they attempt to pile another three points on their Group A tally at the summit.
He said: “Everyone is happy, especially in the changing room after the game. We just had to enjoy that moment for a short period of time as we know we have another game.
“It’s difficult after a win as it’s hard to move that away and just focus on the next game, especially as the games are so close together. But we know we have got to do that to get the focus on Georgia.
“We have a lot of characters within the squad. There are so many experienced boys in our dressing room who help the younger ones. They talk to everyone and make sure that everyone is focused.
“It’s about the mentality when we went a goal down but stayed in the game and tried to keep doing what we were doing. We managed to do that. It’s all of the experienced boys who are good for that.
“I could name names but the majority of them all just seem to talk to the young ones and it’s good to have boys like that. I feel we’ve got a really good squad and we believe in ourselves as well but at the same time we know it’s not easy.
“We’ve got to be humble and work hard and focus game by game, we’ve also got to keep focused and work hard together.”
Scotland’s history with Georgia includes two defeats away from home and two wins at Hampden but a loss on the road back in 2007 proved fatal for Alex McLeish’s side’s Euro 2008 qualifying hopes. It all adds up to words of caution from Hickey who is adamant nobody in the Scotland camp will be taking anything for granted.
He added: “We know Georgia have very good players and we know it’s not going to be easy. When we went into the changing room in Norway everyone was buzzing and hugging each other. The manager came in delighted with the result but at the same time he said not to let it get to our heads and to stay focused. We’ve got another game coming up so stay calm and focus.”
