Ayden Heaven deep-dive - Defender's 'connection' with ex-Man Utd star who has helped him

Ayden Heaven has pointed to an ex-player who has helped him a lot at Manchester United as willingness to learn has seen him go from strength to strength.

The 19-year-old has just had a week to remember after training with Thomas Tuchel's senior England squad.

And then following that he played for England U20s and scored his first international goal in the game against Italy in Rome. Heaven powered home a header in the 3-3 draw.

His progress has been considerable this season where he has come in and performed solidly with United suffering a series of injuries.

With Matthijs de Ligt out long term following the injury to Lisandro Martinez this saw him miss the start of the season, the chances have come thick and fast for Heaven.

He has now regularly found himself competing with Leny Yoro as the player to come in when either Maguire or Martinez cannot play.

Heaven helped United preserve a point in the away game at Bournemouth last time out in the Premier League, following the sending off of Harry Maguire.

And now with Maguire suspended for the next match against Leeds on April 13, he could well be the option that Michael Carrick picks to accompany Martinez.

Clearly Heaven has been fortunate to be able to learn alongside two experienced players in Maguire and Martinez.

And similarly to Yoro, he has benefitted from Carrick bringing in two coaches in Jonny Evans and Jonathan Woodgate who have played at the highest level and know the demands.

Evans was a teammate of Heaven until he hung up his boots last summer, and the young defender points to him especially for the help he has given.

“Jonny helped me a lot last season when he was a player,” Heaven said. “It is always good to have those senior players, and now that he is a coach it is great to have that past relationship with him. Me and Jonny have a good connection.”

Heaven was of course a highly-rated youngster before he joined United from Arsenal and he he highlighted the support he had from William Saliba before moving to Old Trafford.

And at United he says of the players, he has learnt a lot from Maguire. “Just having that reassurance [of them] next to you,” he explained. “You’re not that afraid when you have got that experience beside you.”

Physically imposing, Heaven is 6ft 2in and good in the air but he also excels with the ball at his feet. He actually started out as a midfielder and his ability with the ball is shown now in the way he brings it out of defence.

Clearly as a young player, he is still raw and is benefitting from the game time. He has had to improve on his positioning sense which is where the coaching has been so useful.

And on his willingness to learn he says: “Me and Leny always do extras with Jonathan Woodgate and Jonny Evans, and we are always learning and helping each other a lot.

"We still have a lot to learn, because we are still very young. The guys help us, and we are always trying to improve.”