Brentford full-back Aaron Hickey will miss the majority of the 2024-25 season after undergoing hamstring surgery.
Hickey moved to west London from Bologna in July 2022 for £14million and had an encouraging debut season. He made 26 top-flight appearances and helped Thomas Frank’s side record an impressive ninth-place finish.
The Scotland international featured in nine of their opening 10 matches during the 2023-24 campaign but suffered a hamstring injury in training around the end of October which required surgery. There was hope he would return before the end of the season but he suffered a setback in February. Hickey did not play again and he missed out on representing his country at the European Championship. His last appearance was in Brentford’s 2-0 victory against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on October 28.
Hickey returned to light training this summer but did not feature in any of their pre-season friendlies or their first two games of the season.
On Thursday, Brentford announced the 22-year-old had suffered a fresh setback and will miss most of the season following another hamstring operation.
“The procedure involved the removal of the previous repair sutures and making a new tendon repair,” head physio Nick Stubbings said. “Now we aim to start afresh and help Aaron return to his previous level of health and performance.”
It is a huge blow for Brentford’s head coach Frank, who is already without his first-choice left-back Rico Henry. The 27-year-old suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury (ACL) in a 1-0 defeat to Newcastle United last September and did not play again last season. Henry has stepped up his recovery and will play in a behind closed doors friendly next week.
It means Brentford’s only recognised full-back is Mads Roerslev, but centre-backs Kristoffer Ajer and Sepp van den Berg could provide cover.
(Andrew Kearns – CameraSport via Getty Images)
