Man Utd have a 17-year-old “machine” who’s just as exciting as JJ Gabriel

The Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS era at Manchester United has been a rollercoaster of emotions to date.

The old regime were hardly ideal but trophies were a regular occurrence and under the new ownership, it has not been smooth sailing whatsoever.

Erik ten Hag has gone but perhaps they might have been better off sticking by the Dutchman. After all, Ruben Amorim’s tenure at Old Trafford has been dire and that’s putting it politely in all honesty.

While United returned to winning ways on Saturday, defeating high-flying Sunderland 2-0, the Portuguese has not showcased the immense managerial potential that he did at Sporting CP in Lisbon.

Indeed, after 33 games, only five managers in Premier League history had achieved fewer points. This is Manchester United, not a relegation-threatened team; things need to improve.

Yet, there has been some good to come from the Amorim and Ratcliffe era. They’ve flushed out some bad eggs, put together a backroom team that looks far more organised and gone back to the days of Sir Alex Ferguson in recruiting Premier League-ready talents. Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo are a testament to that.

They’ve also done well to keep the current poster boy of the Carrington Academy at the club, JJ Gabriel.

How Manchester United convinced JJ Gabriel to stay

The Man United academy has been a sacred place for some time now. It might not be Barcelona’s La Masia but the Class of 92 is known the world over.

Remarkably, United have had someone from their academy in every first-team matchday squad since 1937, but that record is now in danger.

Amorim’s treatment of Kobbie Mainoo nearly saw him leave and he was the only outright Carrington graduate in the squad for the win over Sunderland. Ayden Heaven was on the bench but he is technically a graduate of Arsenal’s Hale End instead.

While it might be a few more years before we see 15-year-old JJ Gabriel making waves at first-team level, he certainly looks like the next big thing to come out of the club’s academy.

Hailed as “one of the most exciting talents in the world” by the Manchester Evening News’ Steven Railston, the teenager has been catching the eye for some time now and is already playing several years above his age group.

Perhaps the most sparkly jewel at Carrington right now, he has already found the net on seven occasions in six U18 Premier League matches this term. Yeah, he’s pretty special.

As the MEN outline, some academy followers believe ‘he could be the best talent United’s academy has ever seen’ but there was a threat of him leaving.

Already sponsored by Nike and boasting over 200,000 followers on Instagram, Gabriel is all the hype at the moment and has subsequently attracted plenty of interest.

He was close to leaving in the summer, with talks reportedly at an advanced stage with one top European club. However, a meeting was held at Carrington in which Director of Football, Jason Wilcox, and CEO, Omar Barrada, were both present.

They told Gabriel that he could become the face of the club, a verdict that led to the youngster deciding to stay in the north west.

So, he’s got the backing of Wilcox and Barrada already but is there currently a bigger talent in the academy ranks? Quite possibly.

JJ Gabriel’s biggest rival at Carrington

While Gabriel looks like one of the finest talents on the youth circuit at the moment, there is a lot of hard work to be undertaken before he gets his opportunity.

He will also need to find a way past not just Benjamin Sesko in the forthcoming years but another academy sensation by the name of Chido Obi Martin.

Obi Martin arrived from Arsenal this time last year and considering his record at youth level, it was a move that caused a bit of a stir.

After all, before Max Dowman came on the scene, he was arguably the finest talent at Hale End. He scored 32 goals in 21 official games for Arsenal’s U18s and once bagged ten goals in a 14-3 win over Liverpool U16s. It’s safe to say he knows where the net is.

Sadly for the Gunners, he didn’t see a pathway to the first-team and moved to United, where to his credit, he did receive game time last term, featuring eight times for thesenior side without scoring.

Yet, in 2025/26, Amorim hasn’t selected him in a senior matchday squad once. That’s despite scoring three goals in six Premier League 2 matches.

Chido Obi’s development may have slowed slightly throughout 2025 but this is still one of the finest strikers we’ve ever seen at youth level in this country.

In the words of scout Jacek Kulig, he’s a “goalscoring machine”. No player has scored at a quicker rate in U18 Premier League history (37 goals in 24 games) and only one player, Southampton’s Nicholas Oyekunle has scored more (38) at that level in the competition’s history.

There is a huge difference between youth and senior football. Many players have soared up through the academy and then failed to make the grade. For Obi, that will be the concern, but the fact he was playing games for United’s first team last season at the age of 17 speaks volumes.

Gabriel is attracting all of the attention right now but don’t forget about Obi Martin; he’s even more prolific than his teenage counterpart. Amorim must find space in his squad to unleash him this season.