Ayden Heaven Committed to England Despite Ghana Interest

Ayden Heaven made his 14th senior appearance for Manchester United during their victory over Newcastle.

The young defender, born in London, has decided not to switch his allegiance from England to Ghana for the upcoming World Cup. At just 19 years old, Heaven qualifies for the Ghanaian national team through a grandparent, and the Ghana Football Association has been closely following his progress.

Ghana has been placed in the same group as England, Croatia, and Panama for the World Cup scheduled to take place in the US, Canada, and Mexico.

Sources have informed BBC Sport that Heaven, who transitioned from Arsenal to Manchester United in February after making one appearance with the Gunners, is determined to represent England at the senior level. He has previously played for England across various youth age groups.

In October, Heaven sustained an ankle injury while competing for the Under-20s against Switzerland, leading to his replacement at half-time and subsequent absence from the November match against Japan.

This season, Heaven has made two substitute appearances for United in the Premier League before starting against West Ham on December 4 as part of a three-man defensive lineup. Although he received a booking just eight minutes into the match and was substituted at half-time, he has since started all four subsequent matches, demonstrating significant improvement in each performance.

Heaven delivered a commendable performance in the 2-1 defeat against Aston Villa on December 21 and was named man of the match in the 1-0 victory over Newcastle last Friday, marking United’s second clean sheet of the season.

Manager Ruben Amorim expressed his satisfaction with Heaven’s development, stating: “I am really pleased with Ayden. You can feel that he is improving every game. He is young, but you can feel that he has a good game, slows the thinking and improves during the game. He trained really well and, if he continues to play like that, it is going to be really hard to take his place.”

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