{"id":634517,"date":"2026-09-24T12:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T12:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/634517\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T12:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T12:36:09","slug":"jj-gabriel-insider-claims-man-utd-have-behind-the-scenes-plan-to-convince-starlet-to-snub-barcelona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/634517\/","title":{"rendered":"JJ Gabriel: Insider claims Man Utd have ‘behind-the-scenes’ plan to convince starlet to snub Barcelona"},"content":{"rendered":"

Man Utd<\/a> have a plan \u201cbehind the scenes\u201d to convince JJ Gabriel to remain at Old Trafford, according to reports, despite rumours Barcelona have won the race.<\/p>\n

The Red Devils were taken by surprise last week when Gabriel<\/a> made a request to leave the club as soon as possible, with the 15-year-old looking to join a different club.<\/p>\n

Gabriel has been talked about as one of the brightest prospects to perhaps ever come through the Man Utd<\/a> academy, with the youngster recently scoring a hat-trick in just one half of football on his UEFA Youth League debut against FC Sabah Under-19s.<\/p>\n

The Daily Mail has indicated that<\/a> the decline of Man Utd as a club is the \u2018driving force\u2019 behind Gabriel\u2019s decision to leave, while the youngster wants to \u2018learn from the best\u2019.<\/p>\n

Recent reports have indicated that Gabriel favours a move to Barcelona with some claims he could even tie up a transfer this week<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But former Everton chief executive Keith Wyness insists the plan at Man Utd will be to \u201cdangle\u201d a professional contract in front of the 15-year-old.<\/p>\n

Wyness told Football Insider<\/a>: \u201cWhat can United do? Well, they\u2019ve got to try and resolve the situation quickly, which is the key thing, and all they can do is try and show him that there is a pathway.<\/p>\n

READ: Left-back \u2018informs Man Utd\u2019 he \u2018wants\u2019 to join in January<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe current pathway, they\u2019re obviously not happy with, and they\u2019ve got to now offer some sort of pre-contract that he would get on his 17th birthday, when he can sign his first professional contract. They\u2019ve got to dangle that in front of him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure all those things are going on behind the scenes. United have got the player right now, so they\u2019ve got a chance to try and open up that discussion.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s going to take some quick moves. And are you prepared to put a pre-contract on the table at a 15-year-old who may be going through growth spurts or all sorts of other issues?\u201d<\/p>\n

Rooney: \u2018I\u2019m not sure he\u2019s a Man Utd fan\u2019<\/p>\n

However, Man Utd legend Wayne Rooney recently revealed that Gabriel\u2019s decision wasn\u2019t too much of a surprise to him as there have been rumours that he\u2019s always wanted to play in Spain.<\/p>\n

Rooney said on the latest episode of Stick to United<\/a>: \u201cI\u2019ve seen JJ grow up, he\u2019s been in Kai\u2019s [Rooney\u2019s son] team throughout the years growing up and I think anyone close to it knew that was coming.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn fairness to Manchester United, they\u2019ve done everything, they\u2019ve done absolutely everything to keep him at the club.<\/p>\n

READ: Premier League manager rankings: Is Michael Carrick doing an even worse job than Roberto De Zerbi?<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s been known and there\u2019s been a desire to go and play probably in Spain, I think. I might be wrong but this is what you\u2019ve heard over the years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe club have treated him probably differently to the other players because he is such a special talent and I know, I recognise, I understand that because I was that player at Everton.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was getting that treatment at Everton where you\u2019re getting a bit more, parents get given stuff, you get that special treatment more than the other players are getting which, as a club, you need to do to try and keep these better players.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just disappointing, of course, because he\u2019s such a top player and he\u2019s a lovely kid so yeah, you never know whether it\u2019s gone too far and whether there is a chance for him to stay.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think everyone close to it has probably known that was going to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cI think there has been that hunger, that desire to play in Spain if I\u2019m being honest.<\/p>\n

\u201cI might be wrong here but this is my opinion from being around it, seeing him play and things I\u2019ve heard at the training ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

Man Utd legend Rooney continued: \u201cTo be honest, I\u2019m not sure he\u2019s a Manchester United fan.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince he\u2019s been about 12 or 13, there has been talk of him going to play in Spain so I think anyone who has been around it, this is not a surprise at all that this has happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a shame because he\u2019s such a good talent, a good player, there\u2019s a lot of excitement around the club.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut what I do know is there\u2019s any young players in there who want to play for the club and regardless of age, if you don\u2019t want to be at the club then I don\u2019t think you should be keeping players who don\u2019t want to be there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that sends the wrong message to the players at the club who do want to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ NEXT: Premier League prize money table predicted with Manchester United advantage wasted<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Man Utd have a plan \u201cbehind the scenes\u201d to convince JJ Gabriel to remain at Old Trafford, according…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":634518,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-634517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/634518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}