JJ Gabriel stunned Manchester United by asking the club to cancel his registration so he can leave as a free agent, and reports suggest Arsenal is one of the reasons behind his decision.
The 15-year-old is regarded as the crown jewel of the Manchester United academy and has continued to develop quickly through their youth ranks. He has earned praise for his outstanding performances in almost every game he plays for the academy.
Gabriel Wants a First Team Opportunity
At 15, Gabriel is already one of the best-known academy players in England and has been knocking on the first team door at United for some time. The youngster believes he has earned the right to receive some minutes with the senior side and appears increasingly frustrated by the lack of opportunities.
Arsenal is one of the academies he has trained with in the past, but Manchester United believe they have done everything they could to keep him. The club were therefore stunned by his request to leave, with the teenager reportedly going on strike in an effort to force his contract to be cancelled.
Gabriel has continued to develop rapidly, but his desire for senior football appears to have become an important factor in his situation. He expected to have an opportunity to make progress towards the first team during this campaign, but that has not happened so far.
Arsenal and Liverpool Set an Example
Metro Sport reveals that one of the reasons Gabriel wants to leave is because he has seen clubs such as Arsenal and Liverpool give teenagers opportunities in their first teams.
Those examples appear to have influenced his thinking as he considers his own situation at Old Trafford. Gabriel had expected United to give him a similar opportunity during this campaign, but he has so far been overlooked at senior level.
The youngster now wants to leave the club, with his request creating an unexpected situation for United. The academy prospect had been viewed as an important part of their youth setup, making his decision to seek a departure particularly significant.
For Gabriel, the issue appears to be about getting the chance to play senior football rather than continuing to wait for an opportunity. His frustration has now led to a request to leave Manchester United, while Arsenal’s approach to developing young players has reportedly contributed to his decision.
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Got to thank Mikel for developing and giving opportunities to Skelly, Dowman, Salmon,Julienne and still maintaining his high standards. What a gem of a manager!
A point to be noted, Mikel’s 250 games in charge of AFC , his win percentage is 60%, just below Pep (70%), SAF (65%) Klopp (62%). With them having left the EPL, Mikel has the path open to be the GREATEST EPL manager is due time. Time to stand up and show some respect every time he moves out of our dugout.
I hope they’ll work hard and bring JJ to the Emirates. They took Heaven and Obi from us. Obi was really painful to swallow. Hmmm.
It seems to me that certain players at youth level are getting to big for their boots, if it’s true that he’s gone on strike to force a move.
Seems like the Isak affect is filtering down to the youths. Another sad day for football.
I am hearing a lot of quiet noise around this…
Apparently his father changed his son’s surname to Gabriel, as “O’Cearuill” didn’t seem marketable enough. He also once arrived at a training match, and pulled his son off the field because he wasn’t wearing the #10 jersey.
I feel this is a Rabiot and his mother kind of situation.
On another note, we live in such a crazy footballing world at the moment. 15 year old’s complaining about lack of first team game minutes??? I would assume it’s more his entourage more than him though, but still.
Kia,
I hear you, and it is very sad if he’s being guided wrongly in this way.
Pushy parent syndrome it would seem. 🤷♂️
Yes Derek, and it seems his father is treating him as his money generating asset, rather than a son.
He actually was contracted to Arsenal in 2006/2007, but never played a game for us, we loaned him out to Brighton an played 8 games then moved on.
Kia,
This has the vibes of Nicholas Anelka about it. Remember how often he moved around from club to club, especially in the early days.
Well remember it was his two brothers that we’re his unlicensed agents at the time. And I heard it said once, that it was like his brother’s had found an Oil well in the back garden and bleeding it dry.
Those are the vibes I’m getting from the Gabriel story. I hope I’m wrong for his sake. 👍
I feel for the boy, as amazing as he is, man United is quite an unstable team, being thrown right into first team could end up being detrimental to his development.
Unlike our youngsters who have great players behind them allowing them to express themselves, whoever comes in from our bench just settles in seamlessly.
Whoever is advising the boy, and as been said seems the father has a huge hand in it, will end up ruining his career.