Aaron Hickey will not join Manchester City in the summer according to Brentford boss Thomas Frank.
The Scotland international, 20, has been linked with a big-money move to join Pep Guardiola at the Etihad.
A report at the weekend had suggested Premier League giants had watched Hickey and been impressed with the youngster since his move to Brentford.
Hickey joined Brentford in the summer from Bologna after two seasons in Italy.
And while speculation is rife over a Manchester City move for the former Hearts full-back, Frank insists he will not be sold.
"We will not sell him. He’s not even been here a year," said the Brentford manager.
"With all due respect, I think he’s a very good young player that I think has a fantastic future ahead of him.
READ MORE: Liverpool great raves about Ben Doak and makes Jurgen Klopp prediction
"There needs to be a little bit more to get into the City team in terms of performances."
However, Frank did tip Hickey to keep improving and reach the levels required to perform at the standard of a club like Manchester City.
He added: "I think he’s done well and I really like him. I think he can get up there."
Further commenting on Hickey's development, Frank said: "Aaron has taken some good steps in the right direction.
"He played a very good game against Aston Villa. He is progressing very well. He has a lot of things to improve.
"We are pleased with his first season, but there’s much more to come from him."
At The Herald and Times we know the importance of reaching you where it's convenient, which is why we've engaged top sportswriter James Morgan to bring you an irreverent daily update on what's happening in the world of sport. Be it football, golf, rugby, cricket or something more exotic, James will tread where the best stories take him. To get this exclusive bespoke piece sent directly to your email inbox for free every day at 5pm, simply take a few seconds to type in your email here. It's that simple!
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel