Premier League team won’t be allowed to sign JJ Gabriel if he leaves Man Utd.
Manchester United wonderkid JJ Gabriel looks ready to leave the club after a surprising turn of events this week.
The 15-year-old, nicknamed ‘Kid Messi,’ was expected to become United’s youngest-ever player with a senior debut in their Carabao Cup match against Brighton on Wednesday. But now, he’s set to leave after asking to cancel his registration right away.
Lots of clubs are interested if he does leave Old Trafford, but Premier League rival Chelsea is currently banned from signing him.
Chelsea is one of several teams keen on Gabriel, but they can’t make a move right now. In March, they got a nine-month academy transfer ban and a £750,000 fine for breaking rules about signing academy players while Roman Abramovich was still the owner. This means they can’t register any new academy players this year, which hurts their chances of signing Gabriel.
Gabriel wants to end his contract with United so he can join a club abroad once he turns 16 on October 6. Big teams like Real Madrid and Barcelona are interested, along with Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich. Chelsea and Arsenal are watching too, but United says they won’t release Gabriel’s registration until it ends this season. Only then could Chelsea have a chance to sign him.
Gabriel was supposed to become United’s youngest player this week, but people close to him doubt that was really going to happen.
He hasn’t trained with Michael Carrick’s squad for a few days because of issues between his family and the club about how he would progress to the first team. United’s CEO Omar Berrada and football director Jason Wilcox are talking with Gabriel’s family to try and fix things. Gabriel is unhappy because promises made to him this summer haven’t been kept.
He was expected to get lots of playing time during pre-season but only played eight minutes across four games. Other youngsters, who have since left the club, got more chances instead.
Last week, there was another problem when Gabriel wasn’t registered for the Champions League match against Sabah FK. Meanwhile, players like Manuel Ugarte, who can’t play in the league phase, and summer signing Tynan Thompson were included.
Gabriel could be added to the B List and play in future Champions League games starting next month, but those close to him don’t think that will happen. Instead, he wants to cancel his registration immediately.