- Manchester United centre-back named a less conventional role model
- Spoke about his relationship with French teammate
- Gave credit to the coaches at the club
Manchester United youngster Ayden Heaven has revealed that former Champions League-winning Chelsea centre-back Antonio Rudiger has had an influence on his career. The former Arsenal academy product has made a fine start to life at Old Trafford.
Rudiger’s career spans 14 years, beginning at VfB Stuttgart, before a move to Roma. He then enjoyed a five-year stint at London club Chelsea, before settling at Spanish giants Real Madrid for the past four years, where he claimed the second Champions League title of his illustrious career.
The German has faced United 11 times in his career—all whilst playing at Chelsea—securing an equal record of three wins, five draws, and three losses.
However, one of those defeats came in the 2018/19 FA Cup final, where Rudiger formed a crucial part of the blue defensive wall that ensured a 1-0 win over United.
Speaking to club media, Heaven explained his admiration of the German:
“Maybe Rudiger. I like his style of play. I would say him, yeah.”
Heaven’s relationship with Yoro
While speaking at Carrington, Heaven also reflected on his partnership with fellow 19-year-old centre-back Leny Yoro. The pair have forged a close bond over recent months, even travelling to Dubai together for additional training sessions.
Heaven said:
“Yeah, we learn from each other, you know, every day, because we’re mostly paired up in training.I’ve said before, we always do extras with Jonathan Woodgate and Jonny Evans. So, yeah, we’re always learning, me and Leny, and we help each other a lot.”
He added:
“Me and Leny [Yoro], we’ve still got a lot to learn, you know, because we’re still really young and we’ve got the [coaches], they help us at the end of the sessions. We’re just always trying to improve.”
Heaven was also asked about Yoro’s recent run of starts. The Frenchman has taken advantage of the injuries to fellow centre-backs Matthijs De Ligt and Lisandro Martinez, and has started in all five of United’s last fixtures.
“He deserves it. Obviously, he showed what he could do when he came. I’m happy for him that he’s getting the chances as well. He can show what he’s capable of. That’s what he’s doing at the moment.”
Yoro has made 28 league appearances for the Reds this season, including in a 1-0 win over Newcastle United in December. Heaven started that game and partnered the French youngster when he came on for Lisandro Martinez in the second half.
Heaven’s Thoughts on Carrick’s Coaching Team
As well as speaking about teammate Yoro, Heaven gave full credit to United’s new coaching team. He is impressed with Michael Carrcik who is in pole position to land the managerial job full-time:
“Michael [Carrick] is a good coach. He’s always looking to give opportunities. He’s always seeing what he can do to help us as a player, especially me. Being very young, he helps me.”
Heaven also made sure to talk about first-team coach Jonathan Woodgate and Johnny Evans:
“It’s always something to look up to, because [Real] Madrid, they’re one of the biggest clubs in the world,” Heaven said when asked about Woodgate’s experience. So obviously, him playing for them, I look up to him as well.”
Heaven then followed up by talking about former teammate Evans who is one of Carrick’s assistants:
“Jonny [Evans] did help me last season when he was a player; he did help me a lot. It’s always good to have the older senior players in the squad, especially him being a coach now, we already had that past relationship.“
Heaven will be hoping to kick on and earn a regular starting role in the United senior team sooner rather than later. His quick adaptation at Old Trafford has resulted in a run with England’s U20 team, scoring his first international goal in a 3-3 draw against Italy on Friday.
