Meet the Man United 14-year-old that every big club in Europe wants to poach: ‘Kid Messi’ wowed Cristiano Ronaldo, is already ready for the Premier League and Nike and adidas went to war over him

Huddled together on the touchline, parents, scouts and coaches were left mouths agape as the 14-year-old toyed with Blackburn Rovers while his body was hanging together by a thread.

Five minutes into the Floodlit Cup game, Manchester United’s ‘Kid Messi’ JJ Gabriel suffered a heavy collision and dislocated his shoulder.

Gabriel is ultra-competitive and this was tournament football. As the best player on the pitch, he was not going off without scoring.

‘It was unbelievable,’ one onlooker that night last September said. ‘He popped his shoulder back in and went on to score a hat-trick and get an assist in a 4-0 win. It was truly remarkable.’

It is a story that illustrates just how special a talent Gabriel is for Manchester United. But as his reputation grows, there’s a warning too.

There are two key windows in academy football where players can be poached by rivals – at 14 and at 16. And so a cryptic Instagram story post on Monday morning with a ‘wave’ emoji felt ominous to say the least.

Mail Sport understands that several of United’s Premier League rivals are ‘desperate’ to get Gabriel while the fact he holds an Irish passport, allowing him to play in the European Union from the age of 16 where otherwise he would have to wait until 18, opens up an avenue which is encouraging the likes of Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.

‘United is a big club, a huge club, and it fits JJ’s profile and JJ fits United’s profile, he’s something they haven’t got at all,’ one rival academy scout mused recently.

‘But United have to be careful they don’t get things wrong with him, too. They know they are in a fight to keep him.’

Gabriel, full name Joseph Junior Andreou Gabriel, grew up in London and had spells at Chelsea, Arsenal and West Ham. He honed his technique in futsal as much as he did with football.

At the age of six, he spent a week focusing on his keepy-ups. By the end of that week he could do 1,000 in a row, and was fast becoming the best player in matches with players who were years his senior.

‘He was very raw from a young age but he was very competitive,’ Alfie Brooks, owner of Ole Futsal and Gabriel’s specialist one-to-one coach, told Mail Sport. ‘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 in to a Premier League changing room right now and technically he would be better than all of them. It wouldn’t even be close.’

This season, all in age groups higher than his own, he has 15 goals and six assists in 13 games. Not bad for a winger. 

At the age of nine Gabriel went viral after a YouTube video he appeared in under the moniker of ‘Kid Messi’, a nickname that the youngster is keen to shed for one of his own, and now at 14 he is being called into the Under 18s as United press the accelerator on his development.

It is actually Cristiano Ronaldo or Neymar who many talent identifiers believe his game can go on to mirror, more so than Messi. When Cristiano Ronaldo Jnr was part of the United academy he struck up a very close friendship with Gabriel.

Presented together at Old Trafford with the No 7 (Ronaldo) and No 10 (Gabriel) shirt, they grew close and would often spend time together away from the pitch at Ronaldo Snr’s seven-bedroom mansion.

The Portugal and United icon took a shining to young Gabriel, giving him a signed shirt as a parting gift before he left Manchester for pastures new in Saudi Arabia.

Dan Ashworth, who was axed as sporting director by Sir Jim Ratcliffe earlier this season, was a known admirer of Gabriel while one team-mate in the Under 18s spoke of being ‘blown away’ by seeing the 14-year-old in their training sessions.

Academy manager Nick Cox has been inundated with reports from coaches about Gabriel’s rapid progress through the age groups and United’s hierarchy are carefully plotting moves to show him Old Trafford and Manchester is the place for him.

United have offered boxes for first team matches and last season as a 13-year-old he was invited to warm-up with the Under 18s ahead of their Premier League Cup final win over Manchester City. In last week’s FA Youth Cup quarter-final win at Arsenal he travelled and again warmed up with Adam Lawrence’s side.

The club also took him on tour with their Under 16s to Hong Kong and had him tested in front of 6,000 fans. Naturally he went on to win player of the tournament.

‘He’s by far the best player that I’ve ever seen come through,’ Brooks added. ‘He’s got the potential to be one of the best players this country has ever produced.’

Gabriel’s career to date has been managed to the letter by his family with superstardom in mind. His dad, former Republic of Ireland international Joe O’Cearuill, made the decision to change the family’s surname to Gabriel as it is viewed as a nod to the family’s religious beliefs as well as offering the United starlet a more brandable name.

The decision was also made to home school Gabriel so as to maximise his football, while he follows a very strict diet to enhance performance. He is, to all intents and purposes, already operating as a top professional, and made his England Under 15s debut last month.

When it comes to Gabriel, there is almost always a queue. A queue of clubs waiting to take him off United. A queue of brands eager to work with him as his Instagram following skyrockets. A queue of sportswear giants eager to land his signature.

A flurry of major brands were jockeying to land Gabriel in the past few months before he put pen to paper with Nike last month on what is understood to be one of the most lucrative contracts handed out to a player his age.

Nike representatives regularly watch Gabriel at matches and he has been on the radar for multiple brands since he penned his first deal with Nike as an Under 10s player.

‘That started a trend,’ one source close to that first Nike deal said. ‘That was a really lucrative deal but this one is expected to be incredible.’

United were keen to see Gabriel go with adidas, as the German giant is United’s kit supplier, and the bidding war is on. Nike had Gabriel as a guest of honour in their hospitality box at Anfield for Liverpool’s 2-2 draw with Manchester United, shared to his 85,000 Instagram followers, while adidas have previously hosted him this season when Manchester United drew with Chelsea.

In the end it was Nike who edged out their rivals for a player they believe will go on to achieve superstar status.

‘He’s going to end up like Ronaldo. Just goals, goals, goals,’ as one source put it.

Given his rise to this point, few will bet against him.