JJ Gabriel

What's impressive about him is he's clearly a rounded player. It's not just running and dribbling, or little niche tricks; he can clearly shoot, pass, find space, read play and interact seamlessly with others.

Hallmarks of a proper footballer and not some fad that will be found out as he goes up the ranks. He's as talented - if not more - than the one who shall not be named.
 
He does play a lot like Cunha (at his best). A bit selfish as well but then again with that amount of talent it's hard not to be — he probably hasn't faced the opposition that his "I'll do everything myself" approach hadn't worked on. He has a good pass & vision on him though.

You can see that he's not ready for first level football yet but damn I can't wait for the time when his athleticism catches up with his on-the-ball skills at least a little bit.
 
You just never know how players will develop, but he looks as talented at this stage as anyone we had in our academy i would dare say. Hard to not get excited about what might come. Just hope we can convince him and his dad they are just at the right club and fend off the interest from other big clubs.
 
Can he go with the first team this year? Maybe not play immediately but get more experience in and around the first team. Or is he too young to go with the first team this season already?
 
Amsterdam Devil said:
Can he go with the first team this year? Maybe not play immediately but get more experience in and around the first team. Or is he too young to go with the first team this season already?
Click to expand...

Too young for the PL - Can play in the FA Cup but despite his talent I don't really get excited by him because I think he dreams of Barca/ Madrid from his socials
 
One thing's for sure, if there isn't a pathway to the first team then he definitely won't be sticking around. He needs to see the likes of Chido, Lacey, and Mainoo getting game time otherwise what's the point in staying?
 
It's an interesting case. We talk about giving Rashford 250K a week at 21, Januzaj however much he got, and so on. But here is a boy who is still a child, happens to be a very gifted footballer, but he's getting such special treatment, such pandering, in order to persuade him to stay at the club (over other European giants) because he's free to leave and have a tribunal set an extremely modest fee, way below his actual worth (all things being equal).

At least with young Ryan Wilson the club had Fergie and plenty of actual pros around the place, even though the attention he got cannot have been healthy (let's not go there, or do, if you want).

What can be done about this more generally? I'm sure all the parents get houses and nice jobs, or siblings that have much less talent get contracts or whatever else nepotism allows. But how can young people be better protected from being untethered from the real world just because they are highly gifted in a particular sport?

I can't imagine all of this pandering will serve JJ Gabriel in any positive way, as a human.
 
Yeah I can't let myself get too excited about a prospect like this just yet, he's tried to leave already. Hopefully the club manage it well. In any case, he's a little boy and I find it weird the type of hype he's now receiving. Last case like this I remember was Ravel, and that didn't work out.
 
Bastian said:
It's an interesting case. We talk about giving Rashford 250K a week at 21, Januzaj however much he got, and so on. But here is a boy who is still a child, happens to be a very gifted footballer, but he's getting such special treatment, such pandering, in order to persuade him to stay at the club (over other European giants) because he's free to leave and have a tribunal set an extremely modest fee, way below his actual worth (all things being equal).

At least with young Ryan Wilson the club had Fergie and plenty of actual pros around the place, even though the attention he got cannot have been healthy (let's not go there, or do, if you want).

What can be done about this more generally? I'm sure all the parents get houses and nice jobs, or siblings that have much less talent get contracts or whatever else nepotism allows. But how can young people be better protected from being untethered from the real world just because they are highly gifted in a particular sport?

I can't imagine all of this pandering will serve JJ Gabriel in any positive way, as a human.
Click to expand...
Yeah, am sort of with you here but I don't see 'how it's preventable' either - without the pandering, that is.

You either draw a hard line/stance and risk losing such potential talents (which could cost you 10's, if not 100's of millions in the future) or you strike it lucky and the kid is surrounded by sensible/grounded parents or advisors and/or they are United supporters through and through etc.

You can already imagine the number of slimey agents whispering in all their ears because they see this kid as a potential meal ticket.
 
KiD MoYeS said:
Yeah I can't let myself get too excited about a prospect like this just yet, he's tried to leave already. Hopefully the club manage it well. In any case, he's a little boy and I find it weird the type of hype he's now receiving. Last case like this I remember was Ravel, and that didn't work out.
Click to expand...

Ravel was a one off case

The guy had a strange relationship with football
 
Drainy said:
Ravel was a one off case

The guy had a strange relationship with football
Click to expand...
Yeah I agree it was a unique enough situation, but in terms of hype surrounding a young kid in our academy - this is probably the closest we've seen since then. Maybe Greenwood too, but that's another sorry tale.
 
KiD MoYeS said:
Yeah I agree it was a unique enough situation, but in terms of hype surrounding a young kid in our academy - this is probably the closest we've seen since then. Maybe Greenwood too, but that's another sorry tale.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Ravel didn't take football seriously but strangely wanted to get paid like he was.

Greenwood best not to go into.

It sounds like Gabriel is a really dedicated, talented guy so hopefully he stays humble, and continues to develop
 
Going off that tweet alone I'm not sure there's reason to believe we've done anything that could really be seen as overly pandering. All that I'm seeing there, beyond the very dramatic but largely meaningless term "emergency meeting", is that he we were told he was gonna leave, we then had a chat with him and after that he felt like staying due to 'renewed care and clarity'.

It just sounds like someone felt unappreciated, we realised and said 'noooo we think you're great, you're in our plans' and they felt better. Workplace management stuff.

Sure it's possible that we made all kinds of crazy commitments in this meeting but I don't know that it's sensible to assume that. Unless we have additional reporting that really implies this is the case?
 
It does feel like he's pretty undecided about whether his future is with Utd or not. It is what it is, he's a young lad and having clubs like Barcelona in your ear is distracting.

If he chooses to sign on as a professional here and progresses then great. Hopefully we are doing what is expected in letting him know we have the best possible plan for his development.
 
OverratedOpinion said:
It does feel like he's pretty undecided about whether his future is with Utd or not. It is what it is, he's a young lad and having clubs like Barcelona in your ear is distracting.

If he chooses to sign on as a professional here and progresses then great. Hopefully we are doing what is expected in letting him know we have the best possible plan for his development.
Click to expand...
Problem is does he want to tie himself down to a club that hasn’t competed for major trophies since 2013 (pretty much his lifetime)? He’ll see the likes of Yamal and Lennart winning major honours, and wonder. Our lack of success may come back to bite us.
 
Bastian said:
It's an interesting case. We talk about giving Rashford 250K a week at 21, Januzaj however much he got, and so on. But here is a boy who is still a child, happens to be a very gifted footballer, but he's getting such special treatment, such pandering, in order to persuade him to stay at the club (over other European giants) because he's free to leave and have a tribunal set an extremely modest fee, way below his actual worth (all things being equal).

At least with young Ryan Wilson the club had Fergie and plenty of actual pros around the place, even though the attention he got cannot have been healthy (let's not go there, or do, if you want).

What can be done about this more generally? I'm sure all the parents get houses and nice jobs, or siblings that have much less talent get contracts or whatever else nepotism allows. But how can young people be better protected from being untethered from the real world just because they are highly gifted in a particular sport?

I can't imagine all of this pandering will serve JJ Gabriel in any positive way, as a human.
Click to expand...
Honestly it's a very tricky situation. Damned if you do and damned if you don't. He could be the next Neymar or he could also be a very spoilt situation. Hope our work with him extends off the pitch too to help his temperament.
 
Bastian said:
It's an interesting case. We talk about giving Rashford 250K a week at 21, Januzaj however much he got, and so on. But here is a boy who is still a child, happens to be a very gifted footballer, but he's getting such special treatment, such pandering, in order to persuade him to stay at the club (over other European giants) because he's free to leave and have a tribunal set an extremely modest fee, way below his actual worth (all things being equal).

At least with young Ryan Wilson the club had Fergie and plenty of actual pros around the place, even though the attention he got cannot have been healthy (let's not go there, or do, if you want).

What can be done about this more generally? I'm sure all the parents get houses and nice jobs, or siblings that have much less talent get contracts or whatever else nepotism allows. But how can young people be better protected from being untethered from the real world just because they are highly gifted in a particular sport?

I can't imagine all of this pandering will serve JJ Gabriel in any positive way, as a human.
Click to expand...
It probably will be difficult for him to be grounded after the amount of attention he gets. But we are in this sad situation of social media era.

The good signs are he seems to be a dedicated footballer on the pitch. So hopefully that will keep him going as far as possible.
 
we really shouldn’t be giving so much media attention to a 15 year old kid no matter how talented he is.

Let the kid grow. We can discuss when he signs his professional contract. It’s honestly pretty toxic to see people discussing about his motivations, his dad changing his name etc.
 
Talented kid.

He already has a tonne of attention, but it will be interesting to see where he ends up in 5 years.

But, if anyone finds themselves getting worried about a 15 year old leaving United then give your head a wobble!
 
RuudTom83 said:
Talented kid.

He already has a tonne of attention, but it will be interesting to see where he ends up in 5 years.

But, if anyone finds themselves getting worried about a 15 year old leaving United then give your head a wobble!
Click to expand...
Why woulnt you be worried a big talent might be leaving old Trafford before we're even allowed to give him a chance?
 
elmo said:
we really shouldn’t be giving so much media attention to a 15 year old kid no matter how talented he is.

Let the kid grow. We can discuss when he signs his professional contract. It’s honestly pretty toxic to see people discussing about his motivations, his dad changing his name etc.
Click to expand...
Yeah I don't like talking about off the field stuff with kids as young as he is apart from contract stuff. Still, it's impossible to keep the hype surrounded him quiet. He plays for our u18, and he's scoring a goal per 90 min all while doing so 1 year younger than what our last generational striker (relative to youth players) did.
 
His biggest enemy will be himself. Get a proper guide to keep his strong mentality to get better, without getting full of himself. difficult balance..
 
Simon Stone does an article on him on the BBC to give exposure to a 15yo kid just so he can put the boot into Ruben.
What a fecking grub he is!
 
RuudTom83 said:
Talented kid.

He already has a tonne of attention, but it will be interesting to see where he ends up in 5 years.

But, if anyone finds themselves getting worried about a 15 year old leaving United then give your head a wobble!
Click to expand...
That might sound great to you in theory, but the reality is a potential £100m asset leaving or being poached is a very real and reasonable concern.

It’s not ‘a 15-year old’, it’s clearly one of the most talented players we’ve seen come through the ranks in decades - at the rate he’s going, another of the undeniable ones who can only really fail by their own hand. Nobody wants to see him Pogba it and make a success of himself elsewhere and you can’t treat these special ones like they’re any other academy player because they obviously are not and have the best clubs on the planet eager to pounce should we not match with their ambition/desire/vision. As ridiculous as it might sound, it’s a reality all clubs face with the most elite talent - how Barcelona got done for Cesc by Arsenal should show it’s a practice older than Gabriel himself is, so none of this is new, and we have to ensure we don’t get Cesc’d or Pogba’d along the way. At the very least, you want to sell for commensurate value and not be blindsided by tribunal for a 100th of the value.

It’s far more precarious than your post would suggest.
 
Absoltely
Fortitude said:
That might sound great to you in theory, but the reality is a potential £100m asset leaving or being poached is a very real and reasonable concern.

It’s not ‘a 15-year old’, it’s clearly one of the most talented players we’ve seen come through the ranks in decades - at the rate he’s going, another of the undeniable ones who can only really fail by their own hand. Nobody wants to see him Pogba it and make a success of himself elsewhere and you can’t treat these special ones like they’re any other academy player because they obviously are not and have the best clubs on the planet eager to pounce should we not match with their ambition/desire/vision. As ridiculous as it might sound, it’s a reality all clubs face with the most elite talent - how Barcelona got done for Cesc by Arsenal should show it’s a practice older than Gabriel himself is, so none of this is new, and we have to ensure we don’t get Cesc’d or Pogba’d along the way. At the very least, you want to sell for commensurate value and not be blindsided by tribunal for a 100th of the value.

It’s far more precarious than your post would suggest.
Click to expand...
Absolutely agree. I for one would be gutted to lose such an exciting prospect, just like I'm gutted Morrison and Greenwood never made it here.
 
Fortitude said:
That might sound great to you in theory, but the reality is a potential £100m asset leaving or being poached is a very real and reasonable concern.

It’s not ‘a 15-year old’, it’s clearly one of the most talented players we’ve seen come through the ranks in decades - at the rate he’s going, another of the undeniable ones who can only really fail by their own hand. Nobody wants to see him Pogba it and make a success of himself elsewhere and you can’t treat these special ones like they’re any other academy player because they obviously are not and have the best clubs on the planet eager to pounce should we not match with their ambition/desire/vision. As ridiculous as it might sound, it’s a reality all clubs face with the most elite talent - how Barcelona got done for Cesc by Arsenal should show it’s a practice older than Gabriel himself is, so none of this is new, and we have to ensure we don’t get Cesc’d or Pogba’d along the way. At the very least, you want to sell for commensurate value and not be blindsided by tribunal for a 100th of the value.

It’s far more precarious than your post would suggest.
Click to expand...
yeah considering how little we seem to be getting out of our academy these days compared to the past it would be devastating to lose the best prospect in a long time.
 
Fortitude said:
That might sound great to you in theory, but the reality is a potential £100m asset leaving or being poached is a very real and reasonable concern.

It’s not ‘a 15-year old’, it’s clearly one of the most talented players we’ve seen come through the ranks in decades - at the rate he’s going, another of the undeniable ones who can only really fail by their own hand. Nobody wants to see him Pogba it and make a success of himself elsewhere and you can’t treat these special ones like they’re any other academy player because they obviously are not and have the best clubs on the planet eager to pounce should we not match with their ambition/desire/vision. As ridiculous as it might sound, it’s a reality all clubs face with the most elite talent - how Barcelona got done for Cesc by Arsenal should show it’s a practice older than Gabriel himself is, so none of this is new, and we have to ensure we don’t get Cesc’d or Pogba’d along the way. At the very least, you want to sell for commensurate value and not be blindsided by tribunal for a 100th of the value.

It’s far more precarious than your post would suggest.
Click to expand...

Agreed and givent the fact that Hargreaves and Wilcox met him personally to convince him to stay further reinforces his importance and talent. I don't think they're meeting any other 15yr old personally to convince them to stay.

I've criticised the club a lot but he's involved in first team training and been given the red carpet treatment, if he still chooses to leave then the club can't do anything more.
 
redNATION said:
Problem is does he want to tie himself down to a club that hasn’t competed for major trophies since 2013 (pretty much his lifetime)? He’ll see the likes of Yamal and Lennart winning major honours, and wonder. Our lack of success may come back to bite us.
Click to expand...
Yamal wanted to leave Barça, and his entourage pressured the club and Xavi to play him ASAP in order to sign the contract. At that time, he was more concerned about game time than about trophies.

If I were him, the club should play with my ego: “You will be the star that makes the club great again.” Otherwise, when I see the amount of time Rúben gives to youngsters, the first thing I would do is look for a new club.
 


11:36 onwards through to 20:30. Wayne also mentions JJ by name as it’s obviously relevant to his life.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.