When Ayden Heaven ran on the old Trafford field before Manchester United took care of Crystal Palace at the beginning of February, eyebrows were raised whether he was really the first team player to have painted the club.
Heaven arrived with only one senior performance to his name in Arsenal, a 10-minute cameo in a Carabao Cup match against Preston North End in October 2024. And the only time that United fans may have seen him play when he was run by Rasmus Hojlund last summer in Los Angeles.
He was only 18 while he was praised by Mikel Arteta for his role on that pre-season tour, there was doubt about whether he was ready for Senior Footall. But in Old Trafford the messages was clear: Heaven arrived like a player in the first team and it would not take long before fans know those who know behind the scenes why.
Private director Jason Wilcox was extremely enthusiastic. He was central to convincing Heaven to exchange Arsenal for United, convincing him that the path to early prosperity in the first team was in Old Trafford, not the Emirates Stadium.
Chido Obi, who had taken the same step from North Londs to Manchester a few months earlier, also did his work as a 'agent Chido', as he expressed it.
He has now made six performances for United and has already led fans to be a starter next season. With only £ 1.5 million, Heaven of Heaven could prove one of the smartest pieces of things in the more than ten years United.
Heaven's Journey to Worings of Premier League player is one peppered with setbacks. It is one of the reasons why many insiders at United have the feeling that he is now so physically and mentally robust.
Raised by single mother, Lisa, started Heaven's football trip at the age of five with Edmonton United before he soon started generating a buzz between scouts in London.
Eight he was invited to the trial by West Ham and within 24 hours he was signed.
But after four years at West Ham, heaven was released and he was wondered if he had the opportunity to really make it as a player at the highest level.
His Pivot was to participate in Sunday League levels FC in Barking, East London, where he worked with Terry Bobie, who also worked as Chelsea Scout in addition to running this elite level Grassroots side, to rediscover his love for the game.
“It was a knock for him and his concern was whether he would return to the system,” Bobie told E -Mail Sport. “It wasn't easy because everything stopped. He played friendly for us and he regularly trained with me one-on-one every week.
'I sent him to Chelsea for a process, but he was not successful there and then I passed him on to my friend in Arsenal. Before that he had entered Fulham and Tottenham. People had different opinions about him. '
At levels FC he arrived like a lanky midfielder, but one that was streets for his colleagues. He would only spend a year out of the elite academies before Arsenal locked him up and eventually signed him for stock markets in 2023.
“He was a central midfielder, left, very lanky, but good on the ball,” Bobie explained. “He has that Paul Pogba-like Swagger. He doesn't really hurry things that you can see to this day. He is so relaxed and he just does things at his pace.
“When I was coaching him, I would say,” Ayden, come to man, game pace, “but you have to take a step back and look at it from the perspective of he could see things that the average boy doesn't see.
“He performs things very well and that noticed me. Technically, he has always been very, very good on the ball. '
It was the calmness that Ruben Amorim and his staff met the most when he went to work after he came to Manchester United.
Heaven is an introvert character, but one that is incredibly curious and constantly asking questions to coaches during sessions.
“If you have a player who is as young as he is and play at such a level, you cannot set any restrictions where he can end,” said former Arsenal Academy coach Alex Nichols, who worked with heaven from the age of 14 and was brought to Mail Sport by Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly.
“He asks very penetrating questions when he gets new tasks, is very fascinating and quiet, but he has a calm self -confidence about him.”
The word that was closely associated with heaven in the first few weeks at United is calm. He holds a very small inner circle and can take a while to open up.
He is closest to the arrival in the middle of the season Patrick Dorgu in the dressing room, while Amad Diallo and Toby Collyer are good friends of heaven who are all connected during their spells.
“He is a cheeky guy, but he is quiet,” said Bobie, a long time mentor of heaven. “He's not loud, he doesn't roar, but he has a nice joke here or there. He is very modest and I think Mama did very well with him.
'As soon as he feels at ease, he will be a bit brutal and funny, but he is not one of those who go into the dressing room and tries to be the chief or something like that. He is relaxed. '
Lisa was designated by several sources as a key figure in the rise of Heaven from Youngster released to Premier League Rising Star. She now runs her own agency called Rare Diamond Management and acts as her son's agent.
“Great way to end the season,” she wrote after Ayden scored the final goal of the tour after the season of United through the Far East, closing a 3-1 win over a Hong Kong XI in which Chido had scored the other two goals. “Continued …”
That 'brutal' side of the 18-year-old came up during the Tour after the season which, if disastrous in a number of ways, including a 1-0 defeat by the Asean All-Stars, was a huge positive to help bring another side of heaven.
He was chosen by the club to adopt one of their many commercial obligations in Malaysia alongside Joshua Zirkzee, Matthjis de Ligt and Dorgu, where each of them introduced the crowd in Malays.
Heaven smiled, laughed, seemed to relax and looked like a player who has put some doubts about whether he belongs in a dressing room of the first team.
Few will remember a lot from the first time he pulled a united shirt. Mail Sport was one of the few hundred people who were hudded together on an ice-cold night in Leigh Sports Village, where the heaven played 45 minutes for the under 21-side of the club against Fulham.
Scouts were surprised by the level of control he had at a match that was eventually unraveled for United after he left and lost 1-0 with a Fulham goal in the second half.
His calmness, his self -confidence and his physical framework made it clear that he would bridge the gap to the first team football much easier than most.
“What you see with a calm, self -assured player on the field is actually a reflection of his personality,” Nicholls added. 'That very often gives players the best chance in the long term because he always has that confidence, but he is also consistent and an enthusiastic student who constantly collects new information that will add to his game and further develops his game.
“As he has become older and older, I think he has become more and more effective because he is able to apply what he knows with his high coachability, but he also has the ability to stay calm in high -pressure moments.”
So, Nicholls, just like Bobie, knew that when heaven got his full debut in the Europa League against Real Sociedad in Old Trafford, he would never freeze among the spotlights.
At the age of 18 and 172 days old, Heaven became the youngest united player who started a major European knockout game since Marcus Rashford in 2016.
What United fans wondered that night was a performance in which Heaven won 100 percent of its duels, 42 of 48 passes completed, three tackles, made two interceptions and did not make any mistake. It was as veteran a performance as he could have connected.
“He is 18, but he plays as if he is 28,” said former United -midfielder Owen Hargreaves. “He always makes the right decisions. If you see a young child, you can just see if he has it, and he has it. '
Wayne Rooney, who has been where heaven is, was another who was blown away by the level of the player.
“I came in as an 18-year-old at United and you feel that pressure, but to come in as a centerback-which is clearly a position where you can't afford to make mistakes, otherwise you will be punished very difficult,” said Rooney. “He looks like he's been there for years and that is the biggest compliment I can give him.”
Heaven is a radiant light of prosperity in a time when Doom and Darkness rule the supreme about Manchester United.
Leaving Arsenal was hard for him as an Arsenal fan from North Londs that grew up with Alexis Sanchez. But at United he now has the chance to settle as a starter for one of the world's biggest clubs before he turns 19.
An option in the left in the middle of the Amorim system, or even as the central center where he flourished and scored in Hong Kong last week can turn out to be his long -term position. There he will challenge Veterans de Ligt, Harry Maguire, Lisandro Martinez for a starting role, with a different emerging young star in Leny Yoro, who is only 10 months older than heaven looking for another central background.
Or, as Bobie thinks, Manchester United may have the Ball-Play midfielder where they long for their noses.
“He can do so much. I think more comes out of his locker and I know he can play midfield for Manchester United, 100 percent, if he gets the chance.
'It's early days, but as soon as he grows in it and has faith in it, I know he can play in midfield.
'From the moment I worked with him, the reach of his death is crazy, it is crazy. He also has a good eye for goal. There is more to come if he feels comfortable enough to express himself in this way. '
Amorim watched closely while heaven handled the setback of a serious injury in Leicester City to get back into the fold. He himself said that Manchester United needs more players of the type of heaven in their team. The hierarchy of United uses Heaven and Chido as a sales pitch for other top academic players.
With a manager who believes that heaven is the limit for his potential, a brutal personality that comes to the fore and a start spot next season for grabbing, safe to say that nobody can be lifted their eyebrows anymore.