Manchester United youngster JJ Gabriel has made his preference clear, with Real Madrid chosen ahead of Barcelona as the next step in his career.<\/p>\n
The move towards La Liga had already become a serious focus for Gabriel, with both Spanish giants competing for his signature. In the end, it is Real Madrid who have come out on top in the race.<\/p>\n
MARCA spoke to Gabriel in Madrid, where he has been working with a personal trainer while the final details of his expected switch to the Bernab\u00e9u are put in place. When asked why he wanted Madrid rather than Barcelona, Gabriel answered, with the report suggesting his expression carried the message: \u201cObviously, Madrid.\u201d<\/p>\n
His intention to leave United is understood to have frustrated him and his family, particularly because the club had not moved quickly enough to bring him into Michael Carrick\u2019s senior squad. It later emerged that he may have been in line for his senior debut only days after making the request.<\/p>\n
Rather than choosing a quieter path elsewhere and building towards a move later on, Gabriel and his representatives appear to have aimed high from the start. From the outset, only a move to one of Europe\u2019s biggest clubs was under consideration.<\/p>\n
Gabriel evidently believes he can make a greater first-team impression in Madrid than at Old Trafford, and it is assumed he has received strong assurances during talks with Real Madrid.<\/p>\n
A spell with Real Madrid Castilla, the club\u2019s reserve team in the Spanish third tier, is expected first. Even so, he is also anticipated to be given chances in La Liga and the Champions League once the transfer is fully completed.<\/p>\n
For United, the departure is doubly painful. They are set to lose one of their most highly rated academy players, and they will not receive meaningful compensation in return.<\/p>\n
Had Gabriel joined another English club, United would have been due a fee that would have been determined by a judge if no agreement had been reached. The previous record stands at the \u00a38 million Liverpool paid for Danny Ings in 2016.<\/p>\n
Because the move is overseas, that route does not apply. Real Madrid will instead be governed by \u201cFIFA training compensation,\u201d with the deal expected to cost no more than $400,000.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JJ Gabriel has chosen Real Madrid over Barcelona, leaving Manchester United with little compensation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22274,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[179,987],"tags":[59,180,182],"class_list":["post-22275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manchester-united","category-real-madrid","tag-featured","tag-player-news","tag-transfers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}