Manager Michael Carrick has expressed satisfaction with the progress of 15-year-old prodigy JJ Gabriel, who joined Manchester United’s first-team training this week. Due to his age, Gabriel is not eligible to play in the Premier League this season, but he has attended a number of senior training sessions at Carrington and his performances with the Under-18s were particularly impressive.
The youngster has scored 20 goals in 22 games this season and Carrick will be monitoring his progress closely. United’s caretaker manager has championed the academy system since taking over in January, even rescheduling Friday’s press conference to earlier in the day so he could attend Carrington’s two Under-21 Premier League games against Southampton, which kick off at 1pm.
Carrick admitted that although Gabriel is too young to feature for the Under-21 side in Premier League 2, having just celebrated his 15th birthday in October, he recognizes the exceptional ability of the young striker.
“He’s too young (to play for the Under-21s or the first team). He’s doing very well, JJ,” Carrick said. “We have some really good young players in our academy and we try to develop our young players as much as we can.
“We always try to make the players feel good when they come to training. JJ is a big talent, that’s no surprise, and he had a really good season for the Under-18s.”
“We obviously care a lot about him, but patience is key in managing everything that comes with that, working with him on his development as you would with different age groups and young players, choosing the right time to step up and knowing when to leave them in certain spots and ups and downs.”
“When he trains, he does well, as you would expect. It’s good to have young players coming with us.”
