Always a risk with youth players as the club (rightly) has no control, but I'd be shocked given the level of advancement he's gotten if he left.
Ayden Heaven | Signs from Arsenal
- Thread starter top1whoisman
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Always a risk with youth players as the club (rightly) has no control, but I'd be shocked given the level of advancement he's gotten if he left.
He'd be idea for amorim system then, as one of the CBs needs to step out into midfield from the three.
Does anyone know his strengths and weaknesses?
He’s also inherited Shinji’s number.
Obertan's as well.
The type of player we should be buying from now on. Nobodies. Not yet at least. Until we are in much better financial position.
Aw, come on, with everything going on in the world allow yourself a little smile.. ...
I read that as 'Ayden Arsenal - Signs from Heaven'. Must get my eyes checked.
Hope he's better than that Arsenal game showed. Happy to be signing young prospects in the right positions anyway.
Watching these clips, dang... can't help thinking that he's a natural successor to Martinez. If we will still playing with back 3.
Heaven and Godwill in partnership at the back?
I love itJust a little confused as to how this happened to so easily. He's 18 and has been part of Arsenal's first team in some form, so how have we manager to poach him in January without a fuss?
Are Arsenal just not giving proper contracts or something that allow teams to talk to their reserve/youth players freely in windows? At least Chido was 16... but it's still a bit surprising to me.
Are Arsenal just not giving proper contracts or something that allow teams to talk to their reserve/youth players freely in windows? At least Chido was 16... but it's still a bit surprising to me.
Last year he was on a scholarship contract like most 17-year-olds. The club then offered him a new professional contract (I think last summer, can't remember) but he stalled on signing, largely because the club wanted him to become a LCB but had no real pathway into that position with Gabriel, Calafiori, and Kiwior all in the first team as well as a number of left backs.
Arsenal did not make much of an attempt to change his mind or show him a pathway. He has played 10 minutes for the first team in one League Cup appearance, only been on the bench for 3 PL fixtures, and mainly been with the U21s and trained with them.
Heaven becomes a Devil
We badly needed a left footed CB. I can’t say I know much about him but this seems to be good squad planning.
Next season;
Next season;
Yoro - De Ligt - Martinez
Quenda - XXX - XXX - Dorgu
Mazraoui - Maguire - Heaven
Dalot - XXX - XXX - Leon
Quenda - XXX - XXX - Dorgu
Mazraoui - Maguire - Heaven
Dalot - XXX - XXX - Leon
Really like the signing. Very smart to get a young CB in given that Evans and Lindelof will likely leave in the summer
Amorim’s not bad bringing DC’s into the first team, Diomande & Ignacio.
Oooh baby do you know what that’s worth!!
Ooooo, heaven is a place on earth....
It'll be interesting to see if he's Martinez' understudy or if he's meant to slot in next to Ugarte - if his midfield wishes are to be believed.
Sorry if it's already been mentioned but a few questions :
1. If I understand correctly we are considering him a first team player? Is he ready for game time or likely just to be training with first team while playing with the youth team?
2. Any news on transfer fee?
3. I read he started of as a CM but got moved back to CB recently. Is he 100 percent a CB signing or could we see him in midfield?
1. If I understand correctly we are considering him a first team player? Is he ready for game time or likely just to be training with first team while playing with the youth team?
2. Any news on transfer fee?
3. I read he started of as a CM but got moved back to CB recently. Is he 100 percent a CB signing or could we see him in midfield?
1. he exists in a cat-like state of readiness. he even sleeps with his shinpads, boot and kit on, with his phone on loud, just waiting to answer the call to play.
2. arsenal demanded anything corner related we had. we sent them muller corners, the corners of all our tables, and the corner that my mum stands on.
3. he’s ready for i do anything that amorim asks of him. anything.
I think it's already been discussed in this thread or the transfer one.
We play with 3 though. And one CB is a 37 years old, another one is an injury prone who is going to leave, and the other one is Maguire who is going stay till 2026 max.
I'd like to know the answer as well. How are we doing this? I don't think the vague idea he'll be around the first XI is it because how can anyone promise that. In reality unless there's a bad run of injuries he'll get little game time this season.
I don’t like it as a trend(young players leaving against the clubs wishes) even if on this occasion we benefit as a club.
Because at some point it will be happening in reverse.
Young players are more willing to learn and adapt to new things. Happy that we are investing in up and coming youth if we are looking to play system football according to the manager’s philosophy.
I wasn’t even including Evans and Lindelof as they’ll probably be gone by next season. It’s 8 if you do include them though (I’m counting Mazraoui and Shaw) , and 9 with Heaven.
Point is presumably that we have no direct back-up to Martinez as a left-footed LCB. Evans and Lindelof will leave in the summer and are clearly not in contention currently.
So there is a clear route into the team for him.
This is excellent squad planning. So much more sustainable an approach than if we'd signed Branthwaite or someone like him.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against us signing a potential up and comer. We need more Garnacho like signings, and we seem to be moving more towards that model.
I’m just surprised we managed to nab him from a team like arsenal when he’s apparently a local lad on the verge of breaking through, and apparently can’t offer him much more of a pathway. Maybe he just saw Gabriel and Saliba as immovable.
Something to be done with Cheek to Cheek here.
Heaven.... Ayden Heaven
Was a gunner now he's come to join the team
Playing at the famous Theatre of Dreams
He swapped Lego Pep for Ruben Amorim
Heaven.... Ayden Heaven
Was a gunner now he's come to join the team
Playing at the famous Theatre of Dreams
He swapped Lego Pep for Ruben Amorim
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Yeah, and it's far from a sure thing. It's not as if we've poached Arsenal's best youngster or anything. These signings don't necessarily work if you take them on their own.
The point is to be constantly bringing in a steady stream of talent at this level, cheaply, factoring position and timing in a sensible way (i.e. Martinez is our only serious left-footed CB, he's 27 and Heaven is 18, so if Heaven turns out to be a real prospect, that lines up really nicely so that he'd be maturing just right to start to step up when Martinez starts to slow down.)
And if they come into the first team a bit but don't turn out to be top-tier quality, you sell them for a modest profit.
Yeah it’s a sensible approach, and with the PSR rules around academy players, it feels like one a lot more clubs will take.
I’ve never heard of him so can’t comment on his quality, or how ready he is for first team action etc. I’m just glad we seem to be building sensibly for the future at long last instead of chasing big names on the decline.
Shaw would most likely feature less than Evans. So these 2 and Lindelof should not be really considered.
Probably but he’s got time on his deal so he’ll be here next year. Not much chance he’s sold.
He wasn’t actually on the verge of breaking through, though, that was our problem. We see him as a defender and and he had too much competition in front of him.
CENTRE BACK
Gabriel
Saliba
Califiori
White
Kiwior
Timber
Tomiyasu
LEFT BACK
Lewis Skelly
Califiori
Zinchenko
Tierney
Timber
Tomiyasu
Kiwior
He would literally be our 8th choice in either position, right now.
In a year or two, a lot of those will have have either left the club (Zinchenko / Tierney / Kiwior) or become fixtures in their preferred non-defensive position (Lewis Skelly) and, if Heaven kept developing, he may be picked over more experienced right-sided options (Timber / Tomiyasu) due to being naturally left sided.
But that’s all hypothetical and Arteta loves buying defenders, so moving to United makes perfect sense.
I don’t know if there’s a financial element to it as well. There were multiple reports that you offered Chido a significantly higher salary, but there’s been less of that talk about Heaven.
Either way, I think the primary motivation here is game time, which is fair enough really.
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He’s really getting all the top first team treatment. Seems we rate him highly.
What a chant this would be at OT