Manchester United newbie Ayden Heaven has been questioned after he decided to leave Premier League giants Arsenal and join the Red Devils.
The 18-year-old left Arsenal to join Man Utd during the winter transfer window.
Speaking on the move, the centre-back said: “I am incredibly proud to join Manchester United. I’m grateful to everyone who helped make this dream a reality.
“There is so much that I want to achieve in the game, I’ll be giving everything to continue my development and become the best player that I can be.”
United technical director Jason Wilcox said: “We are delighted that Ayden has joined Manchester United. He is already an extremely talented defender who is ready to join our first-team squad in order to maximise his development.
“This club has a phenomenal track record of supporting young players and we believe that Ayden is in the perfect place to reach his excellent potential.”
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The England U19 international made the Premier League bench on three occasions for Arsenal and made his senior debut in the Carabao Cup fourth round against Preston.
Heaven immediately linked up with Man Utd’s senior side and was an unused substitute when Ruben Amorim’s team faced Leicester City in the FA Cup last week.
It remains to be seen whether Heaven will be a success at Man Utd, but former Red Devils goalkeeper Ben Foster has hit out at the teenager for rejecting a “possible pathway to be part of a very successful team” at Arsenal.
“It does raise a lot of eyebrows and questions about what kind of character is happy to leave Arsenal when there’s possibly a pathway for him to be part of a very successful first team,” Foster said on his podcast.
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“To then go and join Man United, which from the outside is toxic, chaotic and you don’t really know what the playing style is, that would straightaway make me question why he’s done that.”
Foster added: “When most players get that big contract, they soften and they lose that hunger.
“Subconsciously, it gets into you and I’ve seen it week in, week out throughout my career. They’ve been on rubbish money for three years, and then all of a sudden they get that big contract.
“The handbrake is straight up and they think they don’t have to keep doing the things that they were always doing before like going to the gym in the morning because they’ve already got that contract for four years.”
