- Mainoo linked up with rising Manchester United centre-back
- United star overlooked for latest England squad selection
- Emerged as one of the Reds’ breakout performers this season
Kobbie Mainoo and Manchester United centre-back Ayden Heaven have been seen training together with the England national team.
The young Englishman still awaits his first senior England call-up, but Thomas Tuchel selected him as one of three U20 players to join first-team training, helping support the squad as they prepare for Friday’s friendly against Uruguay.
Tuchel will be keen to keep United’s promising centre-back firmly within his plans, with Heaven eligible to switch allegiance to Ghana through a grandparent.
Meanwhile, England’s U20 side will travel to Italy to face their counterparts on Friday—a reverse fixture of Heaven’s debut at that level, where they fell to a 2–1 defeat.
Mainoo and Heaven: Futures in Focus
Despite both young Manchester United stars showing promise this season, they have seldom shared the pitch. Across 33 matches, they have started together just once—a chaotic, humiliating 14–13 penalty defeat to Grimsby, which saw United crash out of the League Cup at the first hurdle.
On the surface, that League Cup outing is nothing but negative.
However, that match stands as an extreme outlier. Across the nine games in which they have featured together, United have posted a positive record: five wins, alongside two draws and two defeats.
Those nine fixtures amount to a limited sample, though, with the pair sharing just 157 minutes on the pitch.
In two of the matches—a 2-0 victory against Manchester City, and a 1-0 victory over Everton from this season—the two shared just one minute of playtime.
| Match | Result | Combined minutes together on pitch |
| 24/25 vs Cheslea | 1-0 loss | 9 |
| 24/25 vs Aston Villa | 2-0 win | 20 |
| 25/26 vs Grimsby | 2-2 draw (14-13 loss on penalties) | 64 |
| 25/26 vs Brighton | 4-2 win | 20 |
| 25/26 vs Bournemouth | 4-4 draw | 29 |
| 25/26 vs Manchester City | 2-0 win | 1 |
| 25/26 vs Everton | 1-0 win | 1 |
| 25/26 vs Crystal Palace | 2-1 win | 5 |
| 25/26 vs Bournemouth | 2-2 draw | 8 |
The timing proved unfortunate for both players. Ruben Amorim placed his trust in Heaven in the latter stages of December, while Mainoo was sidelined with a calf injury.
When Mainoo eventually returned after several weeks out, Michael Carrick had assumed control, and Heaven had been displaced by Harry Maguire and Lisandro Martinez—and later, Leny Yoro.
Could Heaven earn a call-up?
It is unlikely that we will see Heaven in the men’s first-team England squad anytime soon. The ex-Arsenal youth academy product may be an extremely exciting talent, but he is still just 19 years of age.
While he is earning minutes at United, they remain sporadic and limited—small pockets of game time rather than sustained exposure.
As he continues to grow and gain experience over the coming years, there is little doubt that Heaven will begin to showcase his full abilities and make a case for higher honours.
