Ayden Heaven praises one person for help after being named Man Utd's Player of the Month

Ayden Heaven tells how his progress has been helped by a manager who "cares about you" after being named Manchester United's Player of the Month.

The 19-year-old has come on in leaps and bounds in recent months - having joined the club nearly a year ago - and he is set to be a key player in the future.

He has taken advantage of injuries to Matthijs de Ligt and Harry Maguire to show his worth to the team. While recently he has also kept Leny Yoro out of the starting lineup.

And in particular he shone in the game against Newcastle where he benefited from the experience and leadership of Lisandro Martinez alongside him.

He says he feels more “confident” and “like a completely different player now”.

“I’ve enjoyed it,” said Heaven. “I've done well, I think, with the chances I've had, and, yeah, I just want to take it into the next year and continue developing.

“It motivates me in a way, like I said, to keep developing and to know I’m capable of playing games like that. It just motivates me.

“I was surprised at how quick I got my chances when I first joined, but I was ready, so hopefully I can get more in the new year.”

And the teenager hailed the impact the boss has had in the time they have worked together.

“He’s a brilliant manager,” Ayden explained. “He’s always reassuring me and helping me improve. He’s a great guy as well off the pitch, and I’m going to love to continue working with him.

“It helps a lot to know that the manager cares about you and that he takes his time to come and speak to you. It’s good.”

After the Boxing Day win over Newcastle Ruben Amorim said that he was “really pleased” with the youngster's progress.

He told press: "I'm really pleased with Ayden. You can feel that he’s improving every game. He's young, but you don't feel that he has a good game and then he slows the game or the thinking during the game.

"No, you feel that he’s improving during the game. I think he was not playing, but he trained really well. You just need to train really well to be ready when the opportunity comes. So, in this moment, if you continue to play like that, it's going to be really hard to take his place.”