Ayden Heaven: Man Utd's press-baiting defender stolen from Arsenal with the hope of making amends for Gerard Pique mistake

Heaven grew up in Edmonton in north London, honing his skills at local side Edmonton United before taking his first formal steps as a footballer in east London by joining West Ham's academy, a renowned talent factory that produced the likes of Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand and Joe Cole in the 1990s and more recently Declan Rice. Heaven, however, did not make the grade and was let go by the Irons when he was aged 12. Being rejected by a Premier League club can be a brutal setback for aspiring footballers but Heaven trusted in his own ability.

"Initially, I was down because I was there for a number of years but in my mind, I knew that I was good enough to get back to academy level – I just needed the right opportunity," he told Arsenal's website. "I had the mentality that this is not the end of my story, there was still more to come."

Heaven took a step down by training with amateur side Levels to keep his fitness up and that led to him getting a trial at Chelsea. He had to deal with more rejection as the Blues decided against taking him on after two months. He was on the verge of joining fellow west Londoners Fulham but his family were not keen due to the lengthy journey from Edmonton. Arsenal were showing interest at the same time and they appealed to Heaven's heart and head. He joined the Gunners's Hale End academy in November 2019, not long after turning 13.

"Luckily at the time, Arsenal were knocking on the door too and that made more sense given that, firstly I’m a fan, but also the location was much more convenient, Hale End was only a 15-minute drive, so everything fell into place perfectly," Heaven said. "When they officially decided to sign me, it was the best feeling ever. Signing for the club I’ve supported and my mum was so happy for me – she even cried."

Heaven played as a box-to-box midfielder during his early days at Hale End, the highlight of which was a tremendous solo goal against Chelsea's U16s, running from his own box through the middle before rounding the goalkeeper to score. He later slotted into central defence, establishing himself as a regular in the U18 side.

Heaven progressed through Arsenal's ranks and after impressing in the UEFA Youth League campaign he was included in the matchday squad for the Gunners' Champions League last-16 first leg at Porto in 2023-24. He was then named in Mikel Arteta's squad for last summer's pre-season tour of the US.

He was included in the line-up against Man Utd at the SoFi Stadium and got off to a nightmare start when Rasmus Hojlund span away from him to give the Red Devils the lead. But, rather like when rejected by West Ham and Chelsea, Heaven showed mental resilience and put the mistake behind him, delivering a composed performance thereafter as Arsenal came from behind to win 2-1.

Arteta was delighted with the youngster's response. "Very impressive. At 17, I don’t know how many players are able to do that on a stage like this," he said. "He’s lost a duel against one of the strongest and fastest players in the world, it can happen. But the reaction afterwards, the composure, the quality, the body language that he had were all remarkable. I’m really happy with him."

Heaven continued to train with the first team when the new season began and he was given his competitive debut when Arsenal visited Preston North End in the Carabao Cup in October, coming on for the final 10 minutes in the 3-0 win, in which his close friend and fellow Hale End graduate Ethan Nwaneri had starred.

The defender decided against following Nwaneri in signing professional terms with Arsenal though, and began to attract interest from other clubs having failed to make his Premier League debut to date. He flew out to Germany to visit Eintracht Frankfurt and looked set to follow the lead of Jadon Sancho, Jude Bellingham, Jamie Gittens and the many other English youngsters who have looked to the Bundesliga to get a taste of regular first-team football.

But United, who have taken a real interest in the recruitment of young players since Sir Jim Ratcliffe's partial takeover, have beaten the Germans to the punch. The teenager is set to move to Old Trafford in the January window having rejected Arsenal's last-minute offer as the Gunners pulled out all the stops to try to keep him. It has been reported he is considered a first-team signing.

Heaven's 6'2 In frame gives him a natural advantage over his opponents while he is also physically strong, which gives him an edge attacking and defending set pieces. But he is much more than a physical specimen. He has a flair for passing out and progressing the play, making him adept at baiting the press and sucking opponents towards him.

The defender's mentality and his ability to overcome setbacks, like being schooled by Hojlund, also stands out. Arsenal journalist Charles Watts told Sportsmole: "He got twisted and turned inside out by Hojlund and you're like 'This is going to be a tough afternoon for him', he was 17 then. But he responded and played really well in that game.

"That impressed a lot of people, that he had the mentality to brush off getting pushed aside by Hojlund for that goal. He is highly rated, he's trained an awful lot with Arsenal, they didn't want to lose him."

Heaven relies heavily on his left foot and is very rarely seen using his right. He will need to become more comfortable with his weaker foot at Man Utd as he will have to make the most of opportunities that come his way in the first team and will not go straight into Amorim's side as the left centre-back.

He will also want to improve his long-range passing as he is primarily a short-range distributor. Inevitably, there is some ground to make up in traditional defending attributes, too, given his tender years and that he has spent much of his career as a midfielder and only moved into the heart of defence at the start of the 2023-24 campaign.

One of Sir Alex Ferguson's biggest mistakes was allowing Pique to return to Barcelona in 2008 for a mere £5 million after spending three seasons at Old Trafford and watching from afar as he developed into one of the best defenders in the world, as well as United's tormentor in the 2009 and 2011 Champions League finals. Heaven has a long way to go before he can be mentioned in the same breath as the serial-winning Pique, of course, and yet he shares a number of attributes with the Barca and Spain legend.

Heaven is marginally shorter than 6'4 Pique and he also started out as a midfielder before drifting into defence and making use of the control and confidence on the ball that became second nature to him when operating in the middle of the pitch. Pique also had to learn his trade as a defender and made a high-profile error when he was bullied by Kevin Nolan in United's shock defeat at Bolton in 2007-08. But he developed into one of the finest defenders of his generation, learning to use his height to his advantage while proving suave and slick on the ball, acting as an extra midfielder due to his ability to progress the play.

There are also some parallels in the players' circumstances. Pique's path to the United first team at the time was blocked off by the formidable pairing of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic. Heaven, meanwhile, faced the daunting task of trying to usurp Gabriel and William Saliba at the heart of Arteta's backline.

If Heaven can develop into a regular for United and England after joining the Red Devils for a minimal fee, it will go some way to softening the blow of letting Pique out of their sights just as he was approaching his prime.

Heaven is expected to train with United's first team imminently, although he is likely to dip into the U21s to ensure he maintains match fitness. Given United's paucity of left-footed defenders, though, it would not be surprising to see him named in a matchday squad before the end of the season or get an opportunity to show what he is made of in the FA Cup. If all goes well, he can hope to be the main back-up to Martinez by the start of next season.

The ultimate dream from United's point of view would be a future scenario in two or three years time where Heaven is patrolling Amorim's three-man defence and spraying through balls from deep to Obi-Martin in attack, vindicating their decision to raid their rivals' youth ranks.