Fabrizio Romano: 'Medical booked' for defender who rejected Arsenal offer as move agreed with PL rivals

Arsenal will be keen to get some January business done before the transfer deadline day which comes on Monday, as they want to keep pace in the Premier League title race.

The Gunners are second in the league table, six points behind leaders Liverpool, who also have a game in hand after the Merseyside derby was postponed in December due to weather conditions.

Mikel Arteta’s side are yet to make a signing in the January transfer window, but they have been linked to signing RB Leipzig Benjamin Sesko, as they aim to bolster their squad moving forward. However, they look set to have lost out on an 18-year-old centre-back who is tipped for big things.

Arsenal lose out on centre-back starlet to rivals Manchester United

Ayden Heaven has been in the Arsenal youth system since 2019 when he joined from the West Ham academy. He has since worked his way through the U18s and U21s but now looks set to leave.

According to Fabrizio Romano on X, Heaven has chosen to depart for Manchester United even though Arsenal did offer him a new deal to stay in North London. Romano said: “Exclusive story from last week confirmed as 18-year-old centre-back’s set to leave Arsenal. Medical booked after he rejected [a] new deal from Arsenal and Eintracht approaches. [The] Agreement being formally sealed.”

Heaven has made one professional appearance for the Gunners, which came against Preston North End in a 3-0 Carabao Cup win in October. Apart from that, the centre-back has made 47 appearances for the various Arsenal youth teams.

He now looks set to join Manchester United and follow in the footsteps of highly-rated forward Chido Obi-Martin, who also rejected a new contract at Arsenal in favour of moving North to join the Red Devils.

What has been said about Ayden Heaven?

Romano confirmed over the weekend that Manchester United were trying to sign Heaven from Arsenal. He revealed that the centre-back was in attendance for United’s game against Rangers in the Europa League last week.

Romano said: “They [Man United] have positioned themselves in a very good position. The player was in attendance at Old Trafford on Thursday.”

Mikel Arteta was also asked about the defender in a press conference last week before their 1-0 win against Wolves on Saturday. He said: “You know I cannot talk about anything that is individual and this is not my duty.”

Furthermore, Eintracht Frankfurt CEO Markus Krosche confirmed the German club’s interest in the centre-back. He said earlier in January: “We spoke to Arsenal. He’s a really good prospect and we’ll see if we can find a solution with him.”