Catastrophe struck for Manchester United final weekend, when, of their 2-0 dwelling defeat to Crystal Palace, Lisandro Martinez went down with an damage. A participant who has been so essential to Ruben Amorim in the previous couple of weeks particularly, United followers waited with bated breath to search out out the damage he picked up.
It was not excellent news, with the Argentine centre-back out for an unspecified period of time with an anterior cruciate ligament injury. That leaves the Pink Devils with a problem, given how skinny their squad is within the first place.
Amorim will now must discover a new left centre-back for his facet, and whereas the likes of Luke Shaw and Matthijs de Ligt are choices, the United boss may flip to new signing Ayden Heaven.
Why Heaven may substitute Martinez
Arsenal academy graduate Heaven was a late January addition for United. They signed him from the Gunners on the again finish of the window and paid an undisclosed fee, together with his previous deal on the Emirates Stadium set to run out on the finish of the season.
It’s truthful to say that the teen is extremely inexperienced at first-team stage. He made only one look for the North Londoners, which was a 10-minute cameo in the Carabao Cup in opposition to Preston North Finish earlier within the season. Nevertheless, he has been on the bench at occasions, too.
If there’s one factor Martinez brings to the United facet, it’s high quality on the ball. Properly, that’s definitely one thing United’s new quantity 26 may add to their squad. Football analyst Ben Mattinson praised Heaven for his “build-up excellence”, and maybe he may considerably fill the void of Martinez.
Despite the fact that there’s quite a lot of strain to carry out for United, Heaven would possibly properly need to be relied on this season to assist cowl for Martinez and repair United’s points within the build-up. He may have a giant function till the tip of the season.
Nevertheless, he isn’t the one former Arsenal academy star who is likely to be vital within the United first-team this time period.
The teen who may assist United
After all, the younger participant in query right here is Chido Obi-Martin. Simply as Heaven did in January, the younger Danish ahead swapped the purple facet of North London for the Pink facet of Manchester, making the transfer to United in the summertime on a free transfer.
He joined United with a merely excellent repute. Obi-Martin went viral in 2023/24 for scoring seven objectives in a sport for Arsenal under-18s. He had a report of 32 objectives in 18 under-18 Premier League appearances.
He has definitely carried that kind into his United profession to this point. He has played eight games for the Pink Devils under-18s facet to this point, and already has 9 objectives. That included a hattrick in opposition to Nottingham Forest in a 6-0 win. As football statistician Statman Dave said, he may develop into “one thing particular” for United.
|
Obi-Martin report for Man Utd u18s |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Opponent |
Competitors |
Scoreline |
Minutes performed |
Targets |
|
Sunderland (a) |
u18 PL |
3-4 |
27 |
0 |
|
Nottingham Forest (h) |
u18 PL |
6-0 |
45 |
3 |
|
Leeds (a) |
u18 PL |
0-8 |
29 |
0 |
|
Everton (h) |
u18 PL |
3-0 |
71 |
1 |
|
Stoke (a) |
u18 PL |
0-3 |
76 |
1 |
|
Man Metropolis (h) |
u18 PL |
0-4 |
90 |
0 |
|
Coventry (h) |
FA Youth Cup |
5-0 |
72 |
2 |
|
Preston (h) |
FA Youth Cup |
5-2 |
90 |
2 |
|
Stats from Transfermarkt |
||||
United’s strikers have struggled in front of goal this season. Joshua Zirkzee, who provides heaps other than his objectives, has discovered the again of the online 3 times within the Premier League. Rasmus Hojlund has solely managed two this season within the high flight.
This definitely may open the door for Ob-Martin, who has been in imperious goalscoring kind for the academy this season. He has a pure killer intuition and is a robust ball striker, which may translate properly over to first-team soccer.
Giving the 17-year-old an opportunity within the first group may very well be a threat for Amorim, however his kind at youth stage means that it may very well be a worthwhile gamble, and that’s the reason the supervisor ought to unleash him alongside Heaven.
