Ruben Amorim hails 'COMPLETE' Man Utd signing

Tom Weber

Updated: 14 Mar 2025 11:10 CDT
3 min read

Ayden Heaven is already quite a 'complete' player despite his youth, according to Ruben Amorim.

It is increasingly looking as though Manchester United pulled off a real coup by poaching the teenage centre-back from Arsenal in January. Heaven opted against extending his stay in North London and headed north instead.

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Man Utd paid just €1.8 million to secure the signing of Heaven. It was an understated piece of business but one that is already beginning to look like excellent value for money.

Given the club's financial constraints, Heaven could go down as one of the smartest signings of the Amorim era, with the 18-year-old impressing against Arsenal last weekend and again on Thursday.

Man Utd hosted Real Sociedad in a season-defining Europa League clash and came out on top after the Basque side had a man sent off. Heaven looked assured and composed alongside Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui.

Amorim: Heaven is a 'complete' defender

Speaking after the match, Amorim again praised the defender just as he had done following his Premier League debut against ex-club Arsenal. "If he continues like that, he's going to play," the Portuguese began.

"Of course, he's young. He didn't play much this season, maybe just 45 minutes for our U21s. Then a few minutes here [vs Fulham and Arsenal] and now a full game. I really like his confidence, I like his pace. I think he's good at defending the box.

"I think he's quite complete, but he has a lot of work to do. In the Premier League, we will face a different kind of player and he's going to be tested in a different way, so we are trying to manage all this because he's still really young."

Man Utd's next game is against Leicester on Sunday. It will be interesting to see if Heaven again gets a chance to show off his talents.