Credit: The Wayne Rooney Show
Wayne Rooney conducted an interview with Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Xavi Simons this week and compared him to one of Manchester United’s brightest talents.
Manchester United have long been known for developing their own talent, famously naming at least one academy graduate in every matchday squad since October 26, 1937.
This season, U21 midfielders James Scanlon and Jack Fletcher have already been involved in first-team training, alongside prospects such as Shea Lacey and Bendito Mantato. But the emerging star drawing the most attention is 15-year-old JJ Gabriel.
Despite his youth, Gabriel has made an immediate impact at U18 level. He burst onto the scene last season with a debut cameo that produced two goals for Adam Lawrence’s side. Now playing under Darren Fletcher, he has continued to earn trust and is currently the team’s top scorer.
While the academy sides don’t replicate Ruben Amorim’s tactical approach exactly, many who follow United’s youth setup believe Gabriel possesses the qualities to eventually thrive as a left-sided attacking midfielder in the Portuguese manager’s preferred system.
Rooney compares ‘fantastic’ Man Utd talent to Xavi Simons
Gabriel is just 15 years of age but already has over 300,000 followers on Instagram. He is known by most United supporters despite having never played for the first-team. Ruben Amorim was even asked about Gabriel in a press conference recently.
Nowadays, fans are interested in the youth in their club’s academy – none more-so than at Manchester United – and social media almost allows them to become superstars before their debuts.
Xavi Simons was one of the first players to experience that. The Spurs midfielder had over two million social media followers when he was just 13 in the academy at Barcelona.
Simons was speaking on The Wayne Rooney Show this week about how he dealt with those early pressures, and Rooney also compared it to the situation of Gabriel at United right now.
“There’s a young lad at Manchester United who sounds very similar,” Rooney explained. “JJ Gabriel, and I think he’s got like millions of followers and he’s in the same team as my boy.
“So, I’ve watched him grow up and develop and he’s a fantastic player. Got such a bright future.”
United need to deal with changes for young talent
We are entering a period of time where young players seem to have more power than ever before, and that is something that clubs like United need to deal with.
Gabriel has already been offered promises that Rooney probably wouldn’t have received under Sir Alex Ferguson, even though he was already a Premier League player.
Read More: Xavi Simons agrees with Wayne Rooney about James Garner after Man Utd axe, “He’s really, really good…”
It was much easier to make sure players like Rooney kept their feet on the ground when he was scoring goals every week as a teenager. It is hard for youngsters like Gabriel to not let the attention get to them.
But the young star clearly has a good family and support network, while United need to ensure they keep a balance when rewarding him with chances due to his quality and keeping his head straight.
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