Before what was intended to be a historic night at Old Trafford, Manchester United are still digesting the reality that JJ Gabriel wants to leave. The club have been left reeling at the sudden downturn in relations. Only a week ago Gabriel scored a hat-trick on his Uefa Youth League debut at Leigh that seemed to be the prelude to becoming United's youngest player in history by making his debut against Brighton in the Carabao Cup third round on Wednesday.
Now United are scrambling. Chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox are involved in talks they hope will result in their 15-year-old reversing his plan and choosing to stay. A belief that promises have been broken and a certainty over Gabriel's current abilities and eventual destiny mean trust is low.
Real Madrid, Barcelona and Paris St-Germain are among the European heavyweight clubs monitoring the situation. All England's leading clubs have seen it first hand given he was named Under-18 Premier League player of the year last season, even though he was only 14 when the campaign began. He scored 23 goals in the Premier League Under-18 competition and three in the FA Youth Cup.
He was the star man in a United side that reached the Premier League Under-18 cup final and the FA Youth Cup final. He was the Premier League Under-18 Player of the Year and United's Under-18 Player of the Year. The achievements and accolades were in recognition of a player who has balance, pace, close control and a powerful shot.
This season he has shown a willingness to get stuck in to try and win the ball back. "The best 15-year-old in Europe," was how the forward was described by one United source recently. United Under-21s coach Adam Lawrence made a salient point in the aftermath of that Uefa Youth League victory over Sabah FK.
"The first thing in my job is not to ruin him," said Lawrence. "When you have a talented player like JJ, you obviously don't want to stifle their freedom and their creativity." Talent like that grabs attention and is not confined to these shores. Real, Barcelona and PSG focus on elite youth players.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
