Arsenal youngster Mikel Arteta called ‘remarkable’ is pushing to leave the club despite new contract offer

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Arsenal are at risk of losing Hale End Academy talent Ayden Heaven who is currently ignoring a new contract offer from the club.

Right now, both Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly are proving that there is still a path between the Hale End Academy and the first team at Arsenal.

In recent years Mikel Arteta has been slightly criticised at times for not turning to the club’s academy enough, a period in which the likes of Omari Hutchinson and Amario Cozier-Duberry left for a new challenge.

Now, it seems as if 18-year-old Heaven will follow suit, a defender who is still on scholar terms at Arsenal.

Arteta was impressed with Heaven during pre-season, but the defender has seldom enjoyed any first team opportunities since.

Ayden Heaven prefers to leave Arsenal despite club’s best attempts

Speaking to football transfers expert Graeme Bailey of TBR Football, it is understood that Heaven’s contract offer from Arsenal remains unsigned.

The situation is a worry for Arsenal as they wanted this situation sorted more than 12 months ago, but there’s little more that the club can do, as they see it.

READ MORE: Ian Wright sends ‘help’ plea to Stan Kroenke after discussing Mikel Arteta’s future at Arsenal

Heaven was spotted at Eintracht Frankfurt’s stadium over the weekend, suggesting that he is edging closer to an exit from the club.

And it is understood that a move abroad is very much the favoured option for Heaven, with a switch to Germany most likely, as evidenced by his recent trip.

Despite appearing on the bench numerous times under Arteta, Heaven has only made one senior appearance for Arsenal – 10 minutes against Preston North End in the EFL Cup.

At the same age, Lewis-Skelly has now made 19 appearances for the club, totalling 1,020 minutes.

Mikel Arteta was full of praise for Ayden Heaven in pre-season

In terms of his non-competitive senior experience with Arsenal, Heaven also featured in pre-season as mentioned, and actually started in a 2-1 win over Manchester United.

Heaven played 45 minutes and was praised by Arteta for how he responded to being overpowered by Rasmus Hojlund who put United 1-0 up as a result of beating the youngster.

In his post-match interview, Arteta backed the young defender strongly, perhaps explaining why Arsenal are reluctant to lose him.

Arteta said: “Very impressive. At 17, I don’t know how many players are able to do that on a stage like this,” he stated.

“He’s lost a duel against one of the strongest and fastest players in the world, it can happen, but the reaction afterwards, the composure, the quality, the body language that he had were all remarkable. I’m really happy with him.”