‘Kid Messi’ just asked to leave Man Utd... but the 15yo’s saga might not be all it seems

Manchester United’s 15-year-old prodigy JJ Gabriel, nicknamed ‘Kid Messi’, has asked to leave the Premier League club, according to reports in the English media.

The forward has been tipped as a future star and spent time training with Michael Carrick’s side before making his first senior appearance off the bench in last month’s friendly against Atletico Madrid.

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Gabriel, whose full name is Joseph Junior Andreou Gabriel, had been expected to make his senior competitive debut in the League Cup third-round match against Brighton at Old Trafford on Wednesday.

United even named Gabriel in the squad numbers list on the morning of their Premier League opener, a 2-0 loss to Australian Lucas Herrington’s Hull City, after he won United’s Jimmy Murphy Young Player of the Year award last season.

His request comes just days after he scored a hat-trick on his UEFA Youth League debut against Sabah.

Speaking after that 5-0 win, Adam Lawrence, who coached the team, said: “JJ is surrounded by people that really, really believe in him from the top of the club right the way through.

“He’s been at the club for so long. He’s got real good relationships with the players, with the staff, so I think over the course of time obviously that helps as well.

“At the moment, just in terms of his game, his games program, his training program, it’s about making sure that he’s getting the right exposure across different levels.”

Gabriel, who joined United at age 11, was given the nickname ‘Kid Messi’ after videos of him playing football went viral on social media.

United legend Ryan Giggs dubbed the teenager a “generational talent” and likened his development to his old Red Devils teammate Wayne Rooney.

If he does leave as a free agent, a source at one of United’s rivals told Telegraph Sport: “This would be like Barcelona losing Messi before he had played for them. It would be huge.”

Gabriel does not turn 16 until October and has already amassed 844,000 followers on Instagram. The account was recently wiped of all posts.

While his father, Joe O’Cearuill, who is also his agent, has been known to fire off tweets in response to those critical of his son’s fledging career and later deleting the posts.

Earlier this year, in response to a user that claimed Gabriel was “like any other player”, he responded by saying that Arsenal and England star Bukayo Saka “was not even great at 17” before likening his son to Neymar, Lamine Yamal and Lionel Messi.

It is also been reported that O’Ceaurill changed his son’s surname to Gabriel to make him “more marketable”.

O’Cearuill was a professional footballer himself, spending time on the books at Arsenal, but never made a senior appearance for the Gunners.

He twice represented the Republic of Ireland at international level, but spent most of his decade-long professional career in the Irish league or the lower tiers of English football.

“It cannot be a coincidence it came after two 19-year-olds made their Champions League debuts for United last week,” The Sun’s Samuel Luckhurst wrote.

“Resentment is rife among parents and guardians of academy players.”

United, however, have not yet given up hope of keeping Gabriel at Old Trafford.

Premier League rules state that: “During your child’s registration period, their registration may only be cancelled if everyone agrees (the club, player and their parent/carer).”

The rules add: “If the parties don’t agree, then any person involved can also ask the Premier League to provide a binding decision on a termination request.”

Manchester City tried to pinch Gabriel last year, while Arsenal, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich have all been linked with the rising star who scored more than 20 goals for United’s under-18s last campaign.

Gabriel heading to one of those big clubs would be a hammer blow to United.

“The history of Manchester United has been built on the club’s ability to develop some of the country’s greatest young footballers, a legacy which will make JJ Gabriel’s desire to leave even harder to swallow,” The Telegraph’s Matt Law wrote.

“Not many 15-year-olds command the sort of attention Gabriel has so early in his career, but this is the prize talent in youth football. United thought they had already done the hard part by seeing off interest from Manchester City, but somehow English football’s biggest club are in danger of letting the country’s brightest young talent slip through their fingers.

“Maybe it would have been easier to rationalise if Gabriel had joined City last year. Then he would have been another academy talent to defect from one rival to another. For him to decide he wants to go it alone is almost unprecedented and gives United plenty to chew over.

“Able to play as a striker, a left-sided forward or an attacking midfielder, Gabriel last season became the youngest player to feature for United’s under-18s team, at 14, going on to win the inaugural Premier League Under-18s player-of-the-year award.

“The potential departure of Gabriel is a damning indictment of United under co-owners Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the Glazers, who are already the subject of large fan protests and will now come under more fire.

“Jason Wilcox, the United director of football, also has difficult questions to answer over why such a talented young player would rather place his career in temporary limbo rather than stay at United.”

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