Fabrizio Romano: Man Utd plan to 'hijack' transfer as player visits Old Trafford after Arsenal deal 'offered'

Manchester United are reportedly attempting to hijack Arsenal’s future plans for one of their academy talents as they seek to fight off interest from Barcelona and Eintracht Frankfurt.

The Red Devils have always had a strong focus on youth players, something that was re-emphasised by new minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe following his purchase of a 27.7% stake in the club last year.

"I think in a way what I would rather do is try to sign the next Mbappé than spend a fortune trying to buy success," he said. "It's not that clever buying Mbappé, anyone can figure that one out. What's much more challenging is to find the next Mbappé or [Jude] Bellingham or Roy Keane."

He continued: "The solution isn't spending a lot of money on a couple of great players. They've done that if you look at what they've done the last 10 years, they have spent a lot of money on a couple of great players. The first thing you need to do is get the right people in the right boxes managing the club and make sure we get recruitment right, that's such a vital part of a football club, getting recruitment right."

United looking at Arsenal defender

According to Fabrizio Romano on his YouTube channel, United are looking to tempt Ayden Heaven to Old Trafford from Arsenal. The Red Devils snaffled Chido Obi-Martin from the Gunners back in September and are now looking to tempt another of their upcoming stars to Manchester.

Heaven was reportedly in attendance at Old Trafford on Thursday as United defeated Rangers 2-1 in the Europa League. According to Romano, the Gunners have offered Heaven a new deal to attempt to convince him to remain in North London while Barcelona and Eintracht Frankfurt are also interested. Romano said: “Manchester United want to hijack this new deal for the player and bring Ayden Heaven to Old Trafford.

“He has a proposal from Eintracht Frankfurt and he has a new contract proposal from Arsenal, but Man United are there, they have positioned themselves in a very good position. The player was in attendance at Old Trafford on Thursday, so really tempted by Manchester United.”

What has been said about Heaven

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta was questioned on the future of Heaven on Friday but insisted: “You know I cannot talk about anything that is individual and this is not my duty.”

Meanwhile, Eintracht Frankfurt CEO Markus Krosche said earlier this month: “We spoke to Arsenal. He’s a really good prospect and we’ll see if we can find a solution with him.”

Earlier this season, United committed Chido Obi-Martin to professional terms. Players can’t sign their first professional contracts until they turn 17 with the Red Devils acting fast to tie him down. When United won the race to sign the highly-rated goal scorer in the summer, he was only allowed to sign scholarship terms because of his age. However, he has since been rewarded with a professional deal which included a sizeable pay increase which he was unable to earn when he was legally classified as a schoolboy.