Manchester United caretaker manager Darren Fletcher has said the hype surrounding 15-year-old academy prospect JJ Gabriel is ‘deserved’, but confirmed the teenager will not be included in today’s FA Cup squad to face Brighton.
The forward has scored 11 goals in 14 appearances for the Under-18s this season – a side Fletcher managed before being appointed caretaker of the first team on Monday.
Gabriel has trained with the United first team this season and, while his age makes him ineligible to play in the Premier League, FA Cup regulations would allow him to feature in Sunday’s game against Brighton. Despite that, Fletcher has opted not to fast-track the highly rated youngster.
‘JJ is a fantastic talent,’ Fletcher said. ‘I’ve enjoyed working with him immensely, getting to know him. He’s a young lad with a massive sort of hype, you know there’s a lot of noise around him and deservedly so because he’s a real talented kid.
‘He works hard. First thing I’d say is he loves football. He loves training, he loves playing, he loves having the ball, he loves expressing himself. He makes fantastic decisions.
‘He’s got an enthusiasm for the game that’s just amazing. 15-year-old, a bright future ahead of him. I’m super excited by his talent, but the most important thing is that he keeps developing, and he’s in the U18s team, and he’s doing fantastically well, but he’s still got lots to learn.
Gabriel has trained with the United first team this season and, while his age makes him ineligible to play in the Premier League, he could still have featured against Brighton on Sunday
‘He’s developing within there. But the world’s his oyster and he just needs to go on his journey and his time will come in due course. But for just now, it’s a little bit early (to put him in the first team) I think and I think a lot of people would agree with me.
‘But I couldn’t speak highly enough of JJ. He’s got an amazing family and amazing support around him and he’s somebody we’re delighted to have at the club.
‘And we just hope he keeps improving, learning every day and just keep being the boy that he is really and enjoying love and playing football and going and expressing themselves and scoring lots of goals so the Manchester United under 18s win every game. And then I’ll be a happy man.’
Gabriel, full name Joseph Junior Andreou Gabriel, was born in London and had spells at Chelsea, Arsenal and West Ham.
His family moved to Manchester when he was nine and two years later, aged 11, Gabriel signed for the club alongside Cristiano Ronaldo Junior and the two became close friends.
The hype around Gabriel has been building for some time now, with
Daily Mail Sport reporting in March last year that he has been earmarked by Nike as the future of their Mercurial brand after their beat out adidas to his signature.
And last month Gabriel became the youngest player to represent United in the FA Youth Cup. He started against Peterborough and scored the match-winner in a 1-0 victory at Old Trafford.
And there is every chance Gabriel could go on to become United’s youngest-ever Premier League player next season – the earliest point he could play in the top flight.
