Ayden Heaven has been dominating the headlines around Arsenal recently.
The 18-year-old is one of the most exciting prospects in the Gunners’ academy, and he even earned his senior debut under Mikel Arteta earlier this season.
However, now, Heaven is in talks to leave Arsenal for Manchester United, and that is being viewed as a big blow for the North Londoners.
Arsenal fans have warned Heaven that leaving the club is not a good idea, but the youngster is free to decide his future as his contract at the Emirates comes to an end this summer.
It would be a shame if Heaven decides to go, but Arsenal already have another hugely talented young defender coming up who can be the future of the club.
Forget Ayden Heaven, Maldini Kacurri is the future of Arsenal’s defence
Maldini Kacurri made his senior Arsenal debut in the Carabao Cup game against Bolton earlier this season.
The Albania U21 international has been a Gunner for two-and-a-half years now, and he is making a great name for himself behind the scenes.
On Friday, Kacurri started for Arsenal’s U21s as they beat Nottingham Forest 2-0 in a Premier League 2 game at Meadow Park.
The 19-year-old produced a fantastic defensive performance and played a massive part in helping the Arsenal Academy side keep a clean sheet.
Jeorge Bird hailed Kacurri’s performance as ‘excellent’ and raved about how he produced the ‘most memorable moment of the match’ by going on a ‘barnstorming run’ before being fouled in the box and winning a penalty.
Khayon Edwards stepped up and converted the spot kick, but that was all down to Kacurri and his brilliance on Friday night. He was arguably the best player on the pitch.
Kacurri’s performance right after news broke about Heaven’s potential exit shows everyone at Arsenal that he is the future of the Gunners’ defence. Arteta must take note!
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Arsenal wonderkid Maldini Kacurri including age, height and stats
Arsenal U21s manager Mehmet Ali hails Maldini Kacurri’s performance
Mehmet Ali was a happy man after seeing his side keep a clean sheet against Nottingham Forest on Friday night.
The clean sheet means a lot as the Arsenal U21s hadn’t kept one in any of their previous seven games – they conceded 22 goals in that period.
Kacurri only played two of those seven games, and his return to the side against Forest made the young Gunners side so much better.
Ali was delighted with his display. He told Arsenal.com: “Maldini and Tommy (Setford) in goal were excellent, Tommy with his voice and Maldini going on a run like he did to win the penalty!
“But even the basics, he (Maldini) did really well, his first contacts, his marking in the box, some of his headers, he did really, really well.”
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