Manchester United\u2019s academy prospect JJ Gabriel, aged 15, was invited into first-team training this week by interim manager Michael Carrick. The call-up came amid a light senior programme: more senior academy players were absent after an under-21 match the previous evening, Tuesday was a recovery day following Sunday\u2019s victory and the squad had been given Monday off.<\/p>\n
Gabriel\u2019s numbers at youth level underline the decision. He has registered 12 goals and assists in 14 U18 Premier League appearances this season, often facing opponents three or four years older. He has also contributed to two FA Youth Cup round wins as United progressed to the last 16. All his goals, including U18 Premier League hat-tricks against Derby County and Liverpool, have come when he started in central positions. This season he has been deployed as a central striker, as a No. 10 and as a left winger.<\/p>\n
With Patrick Dorgu ruled out for the next couple of months and no obvious direct replacement on the left flank, that side could be the most straightforward route for a first-team opportunity. Mason Mount, who could be an option for that role, remains out after seemingly sitting out training on Wednesday following the knock that ruled him out of the Fulham win three days earlier. Shea Lacey, 18, remains ahead in the pecking order after impressing in his handful of first-team appearances, FA Cup red card aside.<\/p>\n
Gabriel previously trained with the first team in late October after opening the season with seven goals and an assist in his first seven games. BBC Sport reported at the time that sporting director Jason Wilcox, formerly academy director at Manchester City and therefore invested in youth development, “played an active role” in persuading the youngster to remain with United this season. He was also invited to sit in the Old Trafford directors\u2019 box for the Premier League opener against Arsenal in August.<\/p>\n
The club\u2019s current crop is not limited to Gabriel. Kai Rooney, 16, was promoted to the U18s ahead of this season but missed five months through injury. Shea Lacey has featured in three senior games, twins Jack and Tyler Fletcher have been included in matchday squads with Jack logging more than 100 Premier League minutes, and centre back Tyler Fredricson has been named in first-team selection 11 times this season, though not since Carrick took charge and he did not go out on loan in January.<\/p>\n
With Kobbie Mainoo established as a starter under Carrick, the club\u2019s long-running streak of naming at least one academy graduate in every first-team matchday squad, which began on Oct. 30, 1937, remains intact into its 89th year. Manchester United\u2019s youngest ever player remains David Gaskell, who debuted on Oct. 24, 1956 at 16 years and 19 days; Gabriel would need to appear for the first team before Oct. 24, 2026 to claim that record.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JJ Gabriel, 15, joined first-team training under Michael Carrick after eye-catching U18 campaign…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6519,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1264,179],"tags":[1446,1200],"class_list":["post-6520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football-development","category-manchester-united","tag-academy","tag-busby-babes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6520","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=6520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6520\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}