CELTIC will land a £600,000 windfall if Hearts pick up £2million for Aaron Hickey from Manchester City in January.
The Etihad giants have been tracking the Tynecastle side’s 17-year-old full-back and could make a move when the transfer window re-opens at the turn of the year, according to a report in the Scottish Sun.
Hickey rejected pro terms with the Hoops for a return to the Edinburgh outfit — where he had been a youth player — in July last year.
But, as a condition of allowing him to rejoin the the club, the champions insisted on a THIRTY per cent sell-on clause in his contract instead of the normal compensation fee.
The Hoops were keen to keep the player and believed he had the ability to make the grade, although with Kieran Tierney around in Hickey’s favoured No.3 position it was clear the player would have to wait some considerable time to get the chance of a breakthrough.
The attacking back-four operator was handed a first-team debut by Craig Levein at Aberdeen last May while he was still 16.
He also faced Celts at Parkhead in the Premiership and at Hampden in the Scottish Cup Final where the Hoops won 2-1 on both occasions.
Hickey, who scored the recent winner against Hibs in the Edinburgh derby at Easter Road, is under contract until 2012.
