AARON HICKEY can be the next golden boy off the Scotland production line according to Steven Naismith, with the national team assistant coach seeing the same composure in the Bologna youngster that fellow prospects Billy Gilmour and Nathan Patterson possess.

Hickey has earned his first call-up to Steve Clarke’s squad for the friendlies against Poland and either Austria or Wales, with Naismith believing his versatility can be a real asset to Scotland moving forward.

But it is his calmness in possession that Naismith – who played alongside Hickey at Hearts – has earmarked as the quality that marks him out as a special talent.

“He’s got potential to go as far…he can achieve what he wants to achieve,” Naismith said.

“Not being defined as left-back is a massive attribute for him. I saw him play right-back for Hearts, centre-half for Hearts, he’s played on the left for Hearts. And this is a guy who was in his first year as a professional in the first team. He embraced it. He didn’t look out of place.

“He is comfortable on both feet, another thing that, for young players, is not seen a lot. And he’s got that calmness. You see it in Nathan and you see it in Billy, young players that have come in. They have a calmness when they’ve got the ball.

“In years gone by, young players might be a good defender or a good goalscorer. But they’re missing that composure. What makes these guys different is that they’ve got that composure. He certainly goes into that category.”

Naismith hopes that perceptions of Hickey among the Scotland support are not coloured by his numerous refusals to accept call-ups to Scot Gemmill’s under-21 squad in the past.

“The longer he is around and the more people see him, they’ll understand what he is like,” he said. “He is a guy who just gets his head down and works really hard at his football.

“To look at his character from afar, for somebody so young to say ‘I’m going to take my career to Italy’, and be over there with no family, no nothing, shows you the type of character that he is.

“He has been brought up well. He is very well mannered and he understands and appreciates the opportunity that he got. That’s the main thing.

“Over time, people will understand and see the type of character that he is. I’ve not got a doubt about that.”