JJ Gabriel, the 14-year-old wonderkid who recently signed a lucrative deal with Nike, made history on Saturday as he made his much-anticipated debut for Manchester United under-18s in their clash against Leeds.
Gabriel, full name Joseph Junior Andreou Gabriel, is widely regarded as one of the biggest talents in the country.
Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich are said to be chasing his signature, according to the Mail, who claim a queue of clubs from around Europe are waiting to snatch him from United as he continues to shine at youth level.
And on Saturday afternoon, the 14-year-old forward continued his rapid rise as he became the youngest player in Manchester United‘s long history to feature for the club’s under-18s.
After being brought on in the 63rd minute against Leeds, Gabriel scored two goals in two minutes in the latter stages as Adam Lawrence’s side recorded an emphatic 13-1 win over their rivals, with Victor Musa scoring a double-hat-trick.
As you can see from the clip above, a compilation of Gabriel’s cameo emerged after the final whistle, with fans reacting to his performance.
One said: “I’ve been following this kid since he was like 10 i used to call him baby Neymar. It will be a miracle if we keep him. Imagine this kid with Ibragimov promoted to the the senior team.”
A second wrote: “Oi jj gabriel is a superstar in the making fairs. I’ve invested my stocks,” and another commented: “Give it another three years and he’ll be in the first team.”
A fourth said: “14 year old JJ Gabriel just got a brace on his u18 debut. I pray he stays at United and doesn’t give in to the interest from other top European clubs,” while a fifth added: “Special talent.”
As mentioned above, Nike are convinced they have signed the next big thing. In fact, they went above and beyond to convince Gabriel to turn down the likes of Adidas, according to a report from the Mail.
Nathan Salt suggests a key part of Nike’s pitch to the youngster was that they see him as “next in line” to Cristiano Ronaldo’s throne. It was also discussed that he could be the future face of Nike’s Mercurial brand.
He eventually signed “one of the most lucrative contracts handed out to a player of his age” with the American company.
Gabriel has penned a lucrative deal with Nike. Image credit: jjnr10/Instagram
Alfie Brooks, who is Gabriel’s specialist one-to-one coach, gave an insight into the youngster’s talent in the report.
“He was very raw but he was very competitive,” Brooks said. “When he first started training, those were the standout attributes.
“I’ve coached nearly 1,000 academy players over my time – four of them in Josh Nichols (Arsenal), Josh Acheampong (Chelsea), Sydie Peck (Sheffield United) and Tyrique George (Chelsea) have made their senior debuts – and JJ is the best I’ve ever seen.
“He could go into a Premier League changing room right now and technically he would be better than all of them. It wouldn’t even be close.”
