The 15-year-old who is Manchester United’s answer to Max Dowman

You could hear the crunch from the other side of the pitch. It was loud enough to make you wince. JJ Gabriel was in possession deep in his own half when the giant Middlesbrough centre-back Ike Givenson came careering through the back of him.

It was an abysmal challenge – the kind that leads to injury, one for which Givenson was fortunate to escape only with a booking. Some players might have struggled to get back up.

Gabriel needed a moment to catch his breath, but as soon as the resulting free-kick had been taken, the Manchester United striker was back demanding the ball immediately, completely unfazed, like nothing had happened.

“Yes JJ, love that, brilliant son,” came the shout from the sidelines from an admiring Darren Fletcher, the United under-18 coach and five-time Premier League winner, currently overseeing his pathway.

On the pitch, you could sense Givenson’s deflation. He had been given the unenviable task of tracking Gabriel when the United player came short for the ball, but now he was hanging back a little. This was not a kid who could be bullied.

So when Crystal Palace face Fletcher’s side in their FA Youth Cup semi-final at Old Trafford on Friday night (and the Premier League Under-18 Cup final at Selhurst Park five days later) there are no prizes for guessing who they will be pinpointing as United’s danger man across two important games.

The irony is the best player in the team is still too young – he turned 15 in October – to be listed among the under-18 squad profiles on United’s official website.

Gabriel’s full name is Joseph Junior Andreou Gabriel. His father, Joe O’Cearuill, a former Ireland international, changed the family’s surname to Gabriel, both in a nod to their religious beliefs but also to make his son more marketable.

Mbeumo: ‘He has something special’

Comfortable both as a left-winger or through the middle, it would be easy not to look too far beyond the goals and extraordinary technical ability that have made him one of the most sought-after – and talked about – academy footballers in Europe. Watch the viral TikTok video of him juggling a tennis ball and you get a glimpse of that technical quality.

And it has been evident on countless other occasions when he has been kicked by far bigger players this term but has got straight back up and on with the job of terrorising defences.

United’s senior players have seen it for themselves in training. Gabriel has trained with the first team on numerous occasions this season and he has made quite the impression. “He’s strong – the little guy is strong,” Cameroon forward Bryan Mbeumo told the Zack en Roue Libre podcast last month. “You feel that he’s bound to be a little kid but he trains quite a bit with us and you can feel that the little guy has something special.”

City try to lure him... but he stays put

United had to fight very hard to keep Gabriel last summer as rivals sought to take advantage of a rule that permits players at the end of their under-14 year to “serve notice” to leave, de-register with their club and move freely.

Telegraph Sport understands Manchester City made serious efforts to try to entice Gabriel across the city divide. At one point United feared they might lose him.

But the club managed to convince the youngster that his future was best served where he was. Jason Wilcox, United’s director of football, is thought to have played an important role in that process.

United are leaving nothing to chance though. There is a delicate balance to strike these days between carefully managing the development of the very best talents and giving those same ambitious and much-coveted players tangible sight of a first-team pathway.

Aside from those training sessions with the senior squad, Gabriel has been a guest in the directors’ box on match days on several occasions. At the Everton game at Old Trafford in November, the teenager was seated just a couple of rows behind Sir Alex Ferguson, who has already been introduced to Gabriel and is well aware of the attention around the jewel in the club’s academy crown.

Even if he were considered ready, Gabriel is too young to play in the Premier League this season as only players who were 15 by August 31 last year are permitted to do so. Yet it remains to be seen if United opt to involve him in any of their pre-season friendly squads in Scandinavia this summer.

Nike is seldom slow to recognise talent and, in February, saw off a disorderly queue of rival sportswear giants to sign Gabriel to what is thought to be one of the most lucrative sponsorship contracts ever handed out to a player of his age.

Check out Gabriel’s Instagram, where he already has 465,000 followers, and you will see him signing a picture of that contract with an image of the player alongside the words “Welcome JOSEPH JUN10R” on a television in the background.

Madrid and Bayern tracking his progress

Smart and savvy, father Joe – who was briefly on Arsenal’s books but spent the majority of his playing career as a non-League defender – has been carefully overseeing Gabriel’s journey to date.

Young players are not allowed an agent before September 1 in the academic year they turn 16, so it is no surprise the biggest agencies are jostling to represent the United prospect from the end of this summer.

He is the hottest of properties and, since he also holds an Irish passport, is a potential “flight risk” for United because he is allowed to play in the European Union from the age of 16 when otherwise he would have had to wait until 18. No wonder, then, that the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich have been closely tracking his progress.

When Cristiano Ronaldo Jnr – son of the former United forward – was in United’s academy, he forged a close friendship with Gabriel and the pair spent time away from the club together at the five-time Ballon d’Or winner’s home.

Gabriel grew up in London and honed his technique playing futsal. Alfie Brooks, who runs Ole Futsal, has been helping coach Gabriel since he was six. He still supports him now as a mentor and says the player has a “fantastic support network and an amazing family around him”.

“We put together an intense technical programme that allowed him to master the ball from a very young age,” Brooks told Telegraph Sport.

“His technical ability was developed alongside cognitive technical training, which helped him make quicker decisions and produce better outcomes. He’s highly receptive, intelligent and has an amazing personality.

“Alongside his technical quality, there has also been a huge focus on his end product in different situations. That’s why you see him score so many different types of goals. He is genuinely two-footed and can go both ways, which makes him extremely unpredictable.

“There have been comparisons to other players, but JJ is a unique talent and different to anything this country has seen before.”

The Palace games will offer another chance to showcase that.

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