He deserves to succeed (4,4)

I believe the answer is:

true heir

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'deserves to succeed' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't judge whether it can be defined by this definition.

'he' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'he' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.