Arsenal hope debut can help encourage Heaven to stay

Today at 08:41 AM

Ayden Heaven had been left frustrated after not making his debut in the third round of the Carabao Cup against Bolton Wanderers, but the defender managed to achieve that objective against Preston this week.

Heaven entered the fray as a substitute at Deepdale as Arsenal saw out the game with a clean sheet.

In the previous round Maldini Kacurri had been preferred as a substitute ahead of Heaven but that was seemingly due to the fact that the Albanian youth international tends to operate on the right side of the centre-back pairing, with Heaven more frequently used on the left.

Against Preston, with Gabriel unavailable, Heaven was called upon in the 80th minute and he will now be looking for further involvement with the senior squad.

There remains some uncertainty regarding where Heaven will be playing beyond this season. The defender was offered a professional contract last year but has still yet to sign it, with his scholarship deal poised to expire at the conclusion of this campaign.

It is hoped that Heaven’s involvement against Preston will help to persuade him to stay at Arsenal for the long term.

When at his best Heaven is a very talented player – he is composed in possession, reads the game well and can also push forwards from the back. The 18-year-old is working hard to reduce the amount of mistakes that he makes.

Heaven is a talented player and it would be a shame to lose him but it remains to be seen where his future lies.

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Jeorge Bird is the author of www.arsenalyouth.wordpress.com

Follow him on Twitter @jeorge_bird

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