Manchester United made clear where Arsenal went wrong with Ayden Heaven after signing the teenager.
The 18-year-old signed a deal with the Red Devils until June 2029, with the option for an extra year. He is expected to immediately become a member of Ruben Amorim's first team.
It is understanding that a clearer path to regular first team football was the decisive factor in the decision of the highly valued central defender to leave the Rivals of United. That was underlined by the technical director of Red Devils, Jason Wilcox in his statement in which the transfer was announced on Saturday.
Wilcox said: “We are delighted that Ayden has joined Manchester United.” He then emphasized the most important difference in how United intends to use heaven compared to Mikel Arteta: “He is already an extremely talented defender who is ready to participate in our team of the first team.”
Arteta had previously praised Hale End Graduate Heaven, which he promoted to the first team last summer during the training of Arsenal for the season. Heaven appeared against United at the Sofi Stadium during the American tour, where his mistake led to the scoring of Rasmus Hojlund.
After the game, Arsenal -Baas Arteta noted: “I don't know how many players can do that on a stage like that [at his age]. He has lost a duel [ Rasmus Hojlund]One of the strongest and fastest players in the world, it can happen.
“But the reaction after that, the calmness, the quality, the body language he had were all remarkable. I am really happy with him.”
Heaven, who signed for Arsenal in 2019, continued his development in the course of the season and made his debut in October as a replacement in an EFL cup victory in Preston. But even though he was included in various MatchDay squadrons, he did not succeed in appearing in the Champions League of Premier League, in contrast to Fellow Academy graduates Ethan Nwaneri and Mylyes Lewis-Skelly, in which Arteta showed confidence.
Despite injuries to the will of Riccardo Calafiori, Gabriel Magalhaes, Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu who left Arsenal, sometimes defensive this campaign. Only a handful of performances, such as those offered to Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri, may have been enough to convince heaven to linger.
Instead, he will now work with Chido Obi-Martin Die last summer at United from the North London club. Obi-Martin has made waves in the United Youth Ranking order with nine goals in so many competitions.
After he sealed his move to Manchester, De Heaven told the official United website: “I am incredibly proud of becoming a member of Manchester United. I am grateful to everyone who helped realize this dream.
“There is so much that I want to achieve in the game, I will give everything to continue my development and become the best player I can be.”
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