Manchester United take on Chelsea in the Premier League on Saturday and Michael Carrick will pick a new centre-back pairing.
Michael Carrick has given 16 players starts since his appointment at Manchester United. Ayden Heaven is not on that list, but the defender is due to start under Carrick for the first time.
Harry Maguire will be unavailable to face Chelsea after receiving an additional one-game ban from the FA for acting in an improper manner towards a fourth official against Bournemouth, while Lisandro Martinez is facing a three-match ban after being sent off for a hair-pull against Leeds.
United are set to appeal Martinez’s red on the grounds of a lack of force, but PGMOL chief Howard Webb was clear a few weeks ago when he discussed Michael Keane’s sending off in a similar hair-pulling incident, saying: “If we see it again next week, it will be the same outcome next week as well.”
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That means Carrick is preparing for Saturday’s trip to Stamford Bridge without his preferred centre-back pairing, Maguire and Martinez, who had started every game together under Carrick until the latter picked up an injury.
Leny Yoro came into the side for Martinez and started five games while he was on the sidelines. Maguire was sent off against Bournemouth, but Martinez recovered in time to start alongside Yoro versus Leeds.
Heaven will now get a chance alongside Yoro in the heart of the backline. Heaven was born in September 2006, two months after Carrick completed an £18.6million move from Tottenham to United, and Yoro is just a year older than his inexperienced teammate.
The good news is Chelsea have the Premier League’s youngest squad, with an average age of 22.5 years. The bad news is that Heaven and Yoro have not played together in a centre-back pairing as part of a back four.
There will be an element of the unknown when Heaven and Yoro start together, which is not how Carrick likes to approach matches. United’s interim head coach has a penchant for sticking to tried-and-tested formulas, and that explains why he’s hardly tinkered with his starting XI.
Carrick values Maguire so highly, for example, because he knows what he’s going to get from the experienced England international, whereas Heaven has not started for Carrick, so there will be some risk on Saturday.
Heaven last started against Burnley in Darren Fletcher’s final game as caretaker boss, 99 days ago. Since then, the youngster has played a minute against Everton, five minutes against Crystal Palace and eight minutes against Bournemouth.
There were signs of rust with Martinez against Leeds following a two-month lay-off due to injury, and while Heaven has not suffered any injury problems, he would have preferred to have more minutes in his legs.
The winter may be an indication of how Heaven will perform against Chelsea this weekend, as he initially struggled after coming into the team in December, having made only two appearances before then.
During the 1-1 draw against West Ham at Old Trafford, Heaven was substituted at half-time. He was all at sea during a challenging first half and Ruben Amorim hooked him, but he retained his starting role in the following game.
The defender bounced back against Wolves, demonstrating his mettle after West Ham. “I think Ayden has a great future. He’s really hard to beat, he adapts really well in the centre. I think he did really well and I enjoy seeing him with the ball,” said Amorim.
Heaven reflected: “I feel like I’m working hard every day in training, and I’m showing he can trust me in the games that I’m playing. I wouldn’t say it was rust. I felt confident. West Ham are a good team and they started well.”
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Heaven started in Amorim’s final seven games in charge of United, and started in both of Fletcher’s games as caretaker, but has found it difficult to break into the team with experienced centre-backs available again.
The 19-year-old has a huge opportunity to remind everyone what he can do at Stamford Bridge, as last season fans raved about his potential and gushed over how much of a bargain signing he was from Arsenal.
Heaven was signed for £1million and United announced him as a first-team arrival. Although Arsenal did what they could to keep Heaven, he rejected a new contract in London and relocated to Manchester for a small fee.
His arrival was interesting because of his profile – an English, left-footed defender. Solid left-footed centre-backs are sometimes hard to come by in modern football, and Heaven made a really pleasing start to life at United, which earned him praise from Amorim on the final day of last season.
Speaking after the 2-0 victory against Aston Villa, Amorim told MUTV: “I think once again Jason Wilcox is doing a great job bringing Ayden. I think these types of players are what we need. He showed a lot of quality and character after the big injury. We want these types of players.”
In the summer, Heaven worked with a coach who Real Madrid wanted to recruit, Andy Mangan, studying his own game and doing extra work at home in an effort to improve before pre-season. In February, Heaven travelled to Dubai during a break to do more training with Yoro.
United will start with an inexperienced centre-back pairing against Chelsea, but it helps that Heaven and Yoro have a strong relationship away from the pitch. Heaven has grafted and deserves his chance this weekend.
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