Ayden Heaven image 26

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2025-26 Performances

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5.5 Season Average Rating
Appearances
14
Clean sheets
3
Goals
0
Assists
1
Yellow cards
2
Shaw has barely kicked a ball in 2 years and has just turned 30.

At some point we'll have to accept he just won't be the same player even if he's "fit". You can't suffer that many injuries and spend so long out the game without it dragging your level down significantly. People are in for a shock if they think all he needs is a run of games and he'll be peak Shaw again. He's past his prime.


Frankly Maz-DeLigt-Yoro might be our best back 3 but Maz has been injured this summer so is out of everyone's mind.

I'd rather take the chance on Heaven this season though unless he's a disaster and needs taking out the team. He has the athleticism the others don't and we're in such a bad position it might be a time to invest in long term solutions rather than a short term fix who won't even be at the club by the time we're next in a position to win the league.
 
How many games this season do you think he will play?
 
Escobar said:
Rather push a young talent than sesing a washed up half baked Shaw or Martinez
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Don’t get the Martinez hate on here. He’s solid, just been fecked by injury and it’s affected his consistency.
 
Lennon7 said:
Don’t get the Martinez hate on here. He’s solid, just been fecked by injury and it’s affected his consistency.
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Its not hate, its the fact that in 3 season's now with us he hasnt managed to complete a single one due to injury. He just cannot be relied upon.
 
Lennon7 said:
Don’t get the Martinez hate on here. He’s solid, just been fecked by injury and it’s affected his consistency.
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Even when not injured, and he’s not been available for more than 50% of our games - He’s not good enough, he doesn’t have the profile to be a top centre half in the PL. He does well with his lack of height, strength and pace - but we need centre backs with height, strength and pace, they are basic requirements. Not suited to the PL.
 
Lennon7 said:
Don’t get the Martinez hate on here. He’s solid, just been fecked by injury and it’s affected his consistency.
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The easy answer is that we've a rotten online fan base that demands instant gratification. They're happy to pile on players who, in their eyes, aren't playing well enough and they're ignore all outside circumstances in order to do it. Mainoo is another player that gets far too much criticism.
 
His athleticism will cover over some of the learning issues such a young defender is bound to experience. There will be mistakes but the cost of them, against his growth potential, make it an option worthy of serious consideration. The lad has a very high ceiling and I for one hope that he gets the chance to reach it at United, starting with his brief exposure last term and hopefully, carrying on into this campaign. Good luck to the young man.
 
Should be first choice on the left, really don’t want to see Shaw starting for us anymore, he’s far too negative in his passing. Martinez can compete with him when he’s finally fit.
 
my (maybe not so bold) prediction is that he will establish himself as the first choice LCB over the course of the season. He should 100% start over Shaw already, and Lisandros injuries make it tough to really plan with him.

Yoro at RCB and Heaven at LCB is a fantastic foundation. Really have to hand it to the new regime, snapping up Heaven for next to nothing was shrewd business.
 
Ollie Derbyshire said:
Should be first choice on the left, really don’t want to see Shaw starting for us anymore, he’s far too negative in his passing. Martinez can compete with him when he’s finally fit.
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It's too early for him in my opinion, he has only had a handful of first team games and in pre season there were a few shaky moments. It's to be expected from a young player but I still think we need to bed him in gradually.

We can play a trio of Maz -- De Ligt -- Yoro for example and I think it's a better option at this moment.
 
Infestissumam said:
my (maybe not so bold) prediction is that he will establish himself as the first choice LCB over the course of the season. He should 100% start over Shaw already, and Lisandros injuries make it tough to really plan with him.

Yoro at RCB and Heaven at LCB is a fantastic foundation. Really have to hand it to the new regime, snapping up Heaven for next to nothing was shrewd business.
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I do think Amorim will give him the opportunity to claim the starting spot as Heaven probably fits his ideal in that position more than anyone else, but I'm not sure if he's quite ready to take it. Ultimately it'll be whoever performs best, and right now I'd agree with Red Rash (interesting name :lol: ) that the most likely combo will be Yoro on the left with Mazraoui on the right. Yoro was probably slightly better on the left last season than he was on the right.
 
MadDogg said:
I do think Amorim will give him the opportunity to claim the starting spot as Heaven probably fits his ideal in that position more than anyone else, but I'm not sure if he's quite ready to take it. Ultimately it'll be whoever performs best, and right now I'd agree with Red Rash (interesting name :lol: ) that the most likely combo will be Yoro on the left with Mazraoui on the right. Yoro was probably slightly better on the left last season than he was on the right.
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Think himself once sad he feels better as the LCB.
 
Red Rash said:
It's too early for him in my opinion, he has only had a handful of first team games and in pre season there were a few shaky moments. It's to be expected from a young player but I still think we need to bed him in gradually.

We can play a trio of Maz -- De Ligt -- Yoro for example and I think it's a better option at this moment.
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It is but I’d be happy with letting him gain the experience this season, but I’d rather Mazraoui than Shaw 100%.
 
Wasn’t very impressive in any area, other than a good block in the second half. Not ready yet.
 
Can't believe how bad he looked. Always thought he looks promising but this was pure shit
 
He's a talented kid, but people went way overboard on the back of a few composed games last year.

The best thing for his career would be playing 30-40 games on loan at a Championship team. He's way off the standard of being even a rotation option for us right now (which isn't at all unexpected or unusual for an 18 year old CB).
 
Martial'sEmergingSmile said:
He's a talented kid, but people went way overboard on the back of a few composed games last year.

The best thing for his career would be playing 30-40 games on loan at a Championship team. He's way off the standard of being even a rotation option for us right now (which isn't at all unexpected or unusual for an 18 year old CB).
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Exactly this. Same with Chido.
 
Martial'sEmergingSmile said:
He's a talented kid, but people went way overboard on the back of a few composed games last year.

The best thing for his career would be playing 30-40 games on loan at a Championship team. He's way off the standard of being even a rotation option for us right now (which isn't at all unexpected or unusual for an 18 year old CB).
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Totally agree. He'll improve more than if he's sitting on the bench all season.
 
Can't believe the praise he gets on here.

Athleticism for days but he's got a long way to go. Not to say he can't get there, but he's severely behind in so many areas.

Positioning: Lacking
Tackling: Average
Aerial Duels: Lacking
Vision: Lacking
Dangerous Balls Forward: Severely Lacking
Dribbling, Exploiting Space: Lacking

As frustrating as Shaw and Martinez are from an injury standpoint--they still stand head and shoulders above Heaven on most every metric.

Fortunately for him, Fredrickson's nightmare in the cup game partly shielded him from criticism.
 
Gagsy said:
Can't believe the praise he gets on here.

Athleticism for days but he's got a long way to go. Not to say he can't get there, but he's severely behind in so many areas.

Positioning: Lacking
Tackling: Average
Aerial Duels: Lacking
Vision: Lacking
Dangerous Balls Forward: Severely Lacking
Dribbling, Exploiting Space: Lacking

As frustrating as Shaw and Martinez are from an injury standpoint--they still stand head and shoulders above Heaven on most every metric.

Fortunately for him, Fredrickson's nightmare in the cup game partly shielded him from criticism.
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Yeah, he was ass in preseason as well and I couldn’t understand the praise he was getting for it. You saw in the very first game how much of an upgrade Luke Shaw was in that position.
 
One of modern footballs little annoyances to me is young lads like Heaven not playing for a month when there are U21 games going on.

It can't be any good for him to sit out so many games and its not like he's streets ahead of U21 football either. He's not really proven anything yet.
 
So... why didnt we play him again? Dorgu was dorgshit against Brentford.
 
Losing with Harry and Luke in the team frustrates me no end.

Would literally rather lose with Heaven in the team, at least you could argue it would be helping him develop.
 
 
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Marwood said:
One of modern footballs little annoyances to me is young lads like Heaven not playing for a month when there are U21 games going on.

It can't be any good for him to sit out so many games and its not like he's streets ahead of U21 football either. He's not really proven anything yet.
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For sure. Wasn't aware that he didn't feature in U21 games either but I guess he is considered a sub for the 1st team and depending on the schedule, they might not want to risk the sub. But you are right, they have to give him playing time, especially in this age, it is so important to play on a regular basis.

RuudTom83 said:
Losing with Harry and Luke in the team frustrates me no end.

Would literally rather lose with Heaven in the team, at least you could argue it would be helping him develop.
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100%... Which is one of the reasons I considered Maguire staying such a pointless move. We don't get anything playing him - of course he is a more experienced and surely better PL-CB at this point in time but his moment has long gone. Heavens still in front of him. So if the routiniers don't even get you results - just play the younger players. Heaven at least is more suited to a higher line approach.
 
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