United’s breakout star believes he’s a “completely different player” under Amorim, his former club will be furious

As the new year approaches, there’s few players at Old Trafford who have experienced as whirlwind a twelve months as Ayden Heaven. The 19-year-old defender began 2025 as a youth player at Arsenal, but ends it having started the last five Premier League matches for Manchester United’s first team and earning rave reviews from his coach. Following his imperious display in the Boxing Day victory over Newcastle, Ruben Amorim revealed he was delighted with Heaven, who was deployed on his weaker side in a back four alongside Lisandro Martinez. “I am really pleased with Ayden. You can feel that he is improving every game. He is young, but you can feel that he has a good game, slows the thinking and improves during the game,” the Portuguese stated after the 1-0 win. “He trained really well and, if he continues to play like that, it is going to be really hard to take his place.” It’s a testament to Heaven’s rapid ascension that a 19-year-old is now in line to keep experienced stars with international pedigree like Matthijs de Ligt and Harry Maguire out of the starting XI. But it’s not been a normal year for the London-born defender, who has turned down the chance to represent Ghana at the World Cup next summer. Rising through the ranks Speaking to the club’s media team, Heaven revealed his surprise at how “quick” he has risen through the ranks at the Theatre of Dreams, but stresses how much he has “enjoyed” the experience. “I’ve enjoyed it. 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.” Heaven concludes that he feels like “a completely different player now” than the one he began 2025 as. Amorim is a “great guy” Amorim has been foundational to this progress Heaven has shown since joining the Red Devils in February with the centre-back describing the Portuguese coach as “brilliant”. “He’s a brilliant manager. 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.” United are next in action against Wolverhampton Wanderers on January 30 — and Heaven will be expecting, with complete justification, his manager maintains his place in central defence. Featured image Justin Setterfield via Getty Images The Peoples Person has been one of the world’s leading Man United news sites for over a decade. Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social Darragh Darragh is an editor for The Peoples Person who spent three years learning about the Cold War at the University of Sheffield slowly realising football was by far the most interesting thing to write about. Amad’s first touch should be officially recognised as the eighth wonder of the world.