Aaron Hickey's Hearts nap proved ice cool instinct years before sealing £19m Premier League transfer

Craig Levein pitched Hickey into the 2019 Scottish Cup final as a 16-year-old and he hasn't looked back

Aaron Hickey fell asleep before the biggest game of his career but has now sealed a dream move to the English Premier League.

The former Hearts starlet completed a £19million switch to Brentford from Bologna after two impressive years in Serie A. The Jambos will receive a slice of that fee due to a sell-on clause in the deal that took him from Tynecastle to Italy.It was only three years ago that he made his senior debut in maroon away to Celtic. He played well enough to convince Craig Levein to pitch him into the Scottish Cup final at Hampden against the same opposition the following week.

Despite Hearts losing 2-1 after taking the lead, Hickey was the best player on the pitch and earned the Man of the Match award. And Levein revealed to BBC’s Off The Ball that Hickey was so relaxed that he even managed to get some shut eye on the bus to the national stadium. "The interesting thing is, Aaron's actually right footed, everyone thinks he's left footed,” said Levein. “But he's that good with both feet.

"There have not been many players that I've played with or managed who are genuinely as equally as balanced on either side. I gave him his debut. He played so well we played him at Celtic Park a week before the cup final. So that made up my mind about putting him into the team for the final and he was fabulous. He's so calm he fell asleep on the bus going to the cup final -16 year old playing in the cup final and he fell asleep.

"I've had phone calls from a number of Premier League clubs in the last year looking for a character reference on him. His career trajectory has just been stellar. I'm sure he could go to Arsenal or wherever and get more money. But I'm sure he's going to Brentford because he knows he's going to play

READ MORE: