I just wanted to ask you about Ayden Heaven as well, he’s probably the most logical person to come into the team. He had a run of games before you returned to the club starting, not seen all that much of him since. What do you think he maybe needs to do to really contest for those starting positions and where you want to see him develop in the future?
“I think Ayden’s in a good place, well I know he’s in a good place. He’s obviously still young and he’s progressing through the early stage of his career really. So, I think it’s pretty natural for him to play some games and maybe not some others. He’s training really well, he’s learning, he’s listening, he wants to improve, so I think it’s pretty natural for a centre-half of his age, he’s probably well ahead of schedule in terms of the games that he’s played. So yeah, he’s trained well, I’ve got no worries. He went away and played with England a couple of weeks ago and done well, so yeah, looking forward to the game for sure.”
Obviously it’s an absolutely huge game against Chelsea, being a rival for the Champions League places. The record at Stamford Bridge has not been great down the years either. I guess that doesn’t count for much though heading into Saturday. It’s an absolutely crucial match, isn’t it, whichever way you look at it?
“Yeah, it’s an important game. You know, we’re in a good position in the league and we want to keep building on that. It’s a tough place to go, always has been, we’ve always had tough games down there. Most of the time they’ve been good games in terms of what it brings, the feeling of a real proper game, so we’ll be ready for that. We’ve prepared well and, as I said, we take the confidence from what we’ve built. Yeah, we didn’t get the result we wanted against Leeds on Monday, but certainly the way they finished the game and the character we showed, and we’ve got to take that into this game with an extra player and make the most of it.”
I know you’ve got a decision to make at a centre-back and there’s different options for you, but just longer term, Leny Yoro and Ayden Heaven, could that be the future of Manchester United’s backline?
“In terms of predicting the future, I think you’ve got to be careful what you try and predict, but certainly we’re delighted to have both of them and the ages that they’re at to have played in the Premier League for such a big club, it’s not always the case. I think it’s a position that to be in the team at a young age in a big club, it’s not always easy, it’s not always straightforward. So, for the two boys to have played that, they have different amounts at different times, but I think the experience and the stage that they’re at now, they’re at a really good stage. The future is the future, they need to keep progressing and we’ll give them the opportunity to do that, whether that’s with training off the pitch and the coaching side and the help and the advice and certainly the game time as well. So, I think they’re both in a really good place at the moment, as probably as well as you can hope for centre-backs at the age that they’re at.”
