At the Heart of the JJ Gabriel Storm Is a Child Who Needs Protecting

Michael Carrick’s overriding thoughts on the JJ Gabriel saga is that protecting the 15-year-old’s “wellbeing” must be at the forefront throughout.

Manchester United face losing the teen prodigy following a formal request from his entourage to cancel his registration with the club’s academy. The club doesn’t have to accept it and reports this week suggest there is hope that the situation can be rectified.

The explosion on Tuesday is thought to be motivated by Gabriel’s lack of playing time with the first team, having made an unofficial debut off the bench during preseason but not adding to those eight minutes. The forward is widely considered a generational talent, whose father has made plenty of his own headlines this week amid allegations of difficult behavior going back years. “Pushy” has been one of the kinder adjectives used to describe Joe O’Cearuill, who among other things is claimed to have changed his son’s name to become more “marketable.”

When Gabriel’s apparent desire to leave Manchester United became public, presumably briefed to media outlets by someone close to him, it was suggested it was Carrick’s intention to hand him a record-breaking debut in the Carabao Cup clash with Brighton & Hove Albion.

That obviously didn’t happen. In the circumstances of the match, which saw United surrender a 2–0 lead and finish with a frantic search for an equalizer, a debut would have been unlikely.

Carrick had already conducted his pregame press conference before the news broke, so Old Trafford’s press room after the Brighton defeat was the first opportunity for reporters to get his opinion on Gabriel and the sudden frenzy around him.

The United manager chose his words carefully, steering clear of directly discussing the player’s talent and the possibility that his future could lie elsewhere. Instead, he stressed the importance of remembering this is a child whose face has gone around the globe in recent days.

“I think we’ve got to be really careful of the whole situation,” Carrick, whose own son, Jacey, is navigating the United academy and is a year older than Gabriel.

“He’s a young boy, and the biggest thing for me, and for the club, is his welfare, wellbeing and exposure. I think all of us have to be really conscious of that in this situation.”

Speaking on Stick to Football, Gary Neville questioned the “logic from any representatives of a 15-year-old boy who think it’s a good idea to put his name in lights right now.”

Gabriel is so young that additional safeguarding means he has to have separate changing facilities from the senior players. In reality, it’s so, so rare for someone his age to be on the cusp of first-team pro soccer, but Lamine Yamal, someone his father has openly compared him with, has in some ways normalized that. Arsenal have also given chances to Max Dowman, but the number of 15-year-olds to have played in 34 seasons of the Premier League stands at just three.

What Next for JJ Gabriel?

JJ Gabriel, Benjamin Sesko — Gabriel is a boy in a world of men. | Ash Donelon/Manchester United/Getty Images

For as long as Manchester United refuse to grant the request made to cancel his registration, Gabriel cannot formally join another club in England. It gives the Red Devils time to try and persuade him otherwise. But if he—and his family—is set against reconsidering, that will not last for long. His academy contract only runs until the end of the season.

The next step in England, whether at United or elsewhere, is becoming a first-year scholar from next season, part of the program designed to bridge youth and senior soccer. Wayne Rooney’s son, Kai, is currently a first-year scholar at United and players become eligible to sign pro terms when they turn 17 during the second year of the program.

Gabriel could move abroad much, much sooner, though. The same rules don’t apply when foreign teams are involved. Ordinarily, players cannot transfer internationally as minors, which is why the likes of Endrick, Estêvão and Vinícius Júnior had to wait until their 18th birthday. There is an exception to the rule for players who are citizens of European Union (EU) member states. The U.K. gave up its EU membership, but Gabriel has Irish and Cypriot heritage that gives him access to EU passports and therefore the ability to move to an EU country from age 16.

So while Chelsea are credited with serious interest and Manchester City made considerable efforts to poach Gabriel in 2015, it gives Real Madrid a major advantage. In heading to Spain, when he turns 16 next month, the player equally wouldn’t have to risk sitting out this season.

However, if there is what now feels like a miraculous U-turn, Gabriel could still stay with United and, if things fall back into place quick enough, become the club’s youngest ever player. He was clearly very close to his debut before all this happened. The record belongs to David Gaskell, a goalkeeper used by Matt Busby in 1956 at the age of 16 years and 19 days.

Gabriel turns 16 on Oct. 6 and his last of four opportunities to set a new record will be United’s Premier League match against Bournemouth at Old Trafford on Oct. 25. But whether Carrick would even now consider it appropriate to hand him that chance is another question.

Add us as a preferred source on Google