With Harry Maguire and Lisandro Martinez unavailable due to dubious red cards and Matthijs de Ligt unavailable due to injury, Leny Yoro and Ayden Heaven look set to start the next league game.
The youngsters have played their fair share of games, but have never started a game together. This would be a big test in its own right for the two young centre-backs, but they also have the responsibility of facing a Chelsea side with its fair share of decent players. Not to mention, this is a massive game in the race for Champions League football.
Heaven, for reasons unknown, hasn’t really had a lot of game time under Michael Carrick, despite impressing at the start of the year. Yoro, on the other hand, has struggled this season. He seemed to be making progress in recent weeks, but the fragility came to light last week against Leeds United. It seems like Heaven, the younger and more aggressive of the two, has already developed the physicality for Premier League football. He’s also a fairly confident passer of the ball, which paints him in sharp contrast to Yoro.
Of course, many great defenders have relied more on their smarts and positioning, and it seems that’s the example for Yoro to follow. However, without a physical foundation, the other qualities will not come to the fore. For now, he’ll need a partner to help him in that regard. Center-backs of this mould tend to have partners that make up for some of these shortcomings, and Heaven seems the perfect foil to that end.
However promising that might seem, United fans only know too well that talented young players can’t live up to their potential without good senior players to help them realise it. However, if their partnership shows genuine promise this week, it’ll be another positive development in what has been a mostly encouraging second half to the season.