Barcelona made ‘11th-hour hijack attempt’ to try and beat Utd to ‘comfortable and assured’ starlet

In partnership with

Stretty News

·12. März 2025

Barcelona made ‘11th-hour hijack attempt’ to try and beat Utd to ‘comfortable and assured’ starlet

While Manchester United’s performances over the last decade are a shadow of what fans witnessed during the illustrious Sir Alex Ferguson era, it hasn’t stopped young talents desiring an Old Trafford move.

Indeed, the Red Devils’ mantra of ‘youth, courage, success’ has rang true for as long as the club has stood, and it’s showing no signs of stopping anytime soon – not that supporters would let it, anyway.

OneFootball Videos

Take last season’s FA Cup final, for example. United overturned arch-rivals Manchester City 2-1 at Wembley, with both of their goalscorers, Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo, being academy graduates.

Two more Carrington products started the clash in the forms of Marcus Rashford and Scott McTominay, while Jonny Evans, Amad Diallo and Willy Kambwala were all named in the matchday squad.

Alas, seeing such trust in the academy setup play out has evidently impressed other up-and-coming stars; Toby Collyer decided to join the Reds from Brighton and Hove Albion in 2022, while United recently clinched highly-rated Arsenal starlets Ayden Heaven and Chido Obi, both of which have made their senior debuts under Ruben Amorim.

Scouts did superbly to quickly alert United of Heaven’s potential and get a deal over the line in winter, as he had reportedly garnered interest from Barcelona and Chelsea.

According to trusted youth football whiz AcademyScoop, the Blaugrana made an ‘11th-hour hijack attempt’ to try and pip United to the signing of Heaven in January, with Chelsea also ‘registering their interest’ in the process.

Heaven was lapping up the support from those in attendance at Old Trafford. (Photo via Fabrizio Romano on X/Twitter)

Ultimately, the opportunities proposed by the 20-time champions proved too lucrative for Heaven to turn down, and he swapped North London for Greater Manchester on deadline day.

The 18-year-old featured in red, black and white for the first time when he replaced Harry Maguire on the cusp of extra-time during United’s fifth-round FA Cup defeat to Fulham before he was awarded his maiden Premier League outing in the second half of Sunday’s draw with Arsenal, coming on in place of Leny Yoro at the interval.

https://t.co/EsJ2qprKgl
– Montag, 10. März 2025

“I thought he did really well. He looked comfortable and assured and [made] a couple of important tackles and blocks. Yeah, he did really well in the second half, he did,” said Alan Shearer when reacting to the contest on The Rest Is Football.