Why Rising Star JJ Gabriel Won’t Play for Man Utd This Season

The 15-year-old sensation has suitably impressed one of the club’s best players.

There is a lot of hype around JJ Gabriel. | Poppy Townson-MUFC/Manchester United/Getty Images

Manchester United manager Michael Carrick confirmed that JJ Gabriel is “too young” to appear in a Premier League squad this season but that hasn’t stopped him jumping on the hype train.

Premier League rule L.22 in the handbook states that senior teams can only call up players from the Under-16 side or above. These age groups are decided by school year according the British academic system: Year 7 is made up of children between the ages of 11 and 12, so they would correspond to the U12s team. Those in Year 8 fall into U13s and so on. Therefore, a player must be in Year 11 to be old enough to play in the Premier League.

As Gabriel was born on Oct. 6, 2010 (just let that sink in for a moment), he started the school year as a 14-year-old and is only in Year 10. “He is not allowed,” Carrick shrugged. “Too young.”

This was the predicament which befell Arsenal’s prodigious young star Max Dowman last season. There were growing calls for the teenage starlet to feature for Mikel Arteta’s injury-riddled outfit during a striker crisis last spring but because he was in Year 10 at the time, there was no chance of forcing through his development.

Arsenal’s Ethan Nwaneri has a March birthday, so was able to make a brief cameo for the Gunners when he was just 15 years and 181 days old back in 2022. Gabriel won’t be able to break Nwaneri’s status as the Premier League’s youngest, but hopes are high for the GCSE student.

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Carrick Preaches Patience As Well As Praise

Michael Carrick has opened the door to signing a left winger. | James Gill/Danehouse/Getty Images

Noise of Gabriel’s first-team debut has grown louder in recent weeks after his repeated inclusion in senior Manchester United training. Carrick has been impressed with what he’s seen so far. “JJ’s doing really well,” he told assembled media on Friday. “We’ve got some really good players in the academy and we try and get the younger players up [with the main group] as much as we can.”

“We’re always trying to give them that exposure,” Carrick added. “JJ is a big talent, it is pretty obvious and he has had a good season for U18s. We think an awful lot of him.

“But patience is important in managing everything that comes with that and developing him and picking the right moment to step up, to leave them in a certain place. He’s trained well and it is good to have young players up.”

Nwaneri made a his fleeting cameo as a 15-year-old against Brentford but was not afforded another Premier League minute for another 17 months. It wasn’t until the season he turned 18 that Arteta afforded the diminutive dribbler a series of regular minutes. Dowman’s longest gap between senior appearances was sparked by a nasty ankle injury he received during an youth-team match.

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JJ Gabriel Already Impressing Man Utd First Team

Bryan Mbeumo (left) has been full of praise for JJ Gabriel. | Ash Donelon/Manchester United/Getty Images

It appears that no amount of Premier League red tape will be able to cover up the excitement surrounding Gabriel’s development. This bubbling hype has not been helped by senior Manchester United figures such as Marcus Rashford and Bryan Mbeumo publicly praising the youngster.

“He’s good, really good,” Mbeumo gushed during an interview with French streamer Zack Nani this week.

“He’s often with us in training and you can feel and see that he’s got something special. Everything is easy for him. He has a lot of composure in front of goal, he has a good shot, and he’s technically strong.”

The only thing which appears to be counting against Gabriel at the moment is his birth certificate.

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