Aaron Hickey is not afraid of seeking a challenge with the Brentford defender pioneering the way for Scots to test themselves abroad.
Hickey, 20, left Hearts for Bologna in September 2020 and hasn't looked back. He went on to make almost 50 appearances for the Italian Serie A side before a string of eye-catching performances earned him a £14million move to the English Premier League last summer.
Lewis Ferguson, Jack Hendry, Liam Henderson and Josh Doig have all made similar switches to the continent in recent years, and Hickey believes more youngsters should follow in their footsteps by casting their net wider than the Scottish Premiership in order to maximise opportunities. He told The Herald: “It [Italy] helped me massively. I became more flexible, trying other things out in Italy managed to help me do that.
