Marcus Rashford has praised Manchester United academy sensation JJ Gabriel following his involvement in first-team training this week. The 15-year-old teenager is amongst the most exciting prospects at United after an extraordinary campaign with the Under-18s.
Rashford has joined the countless United supporters in celebrating Gabriel's potential. On Thursday, the teenager shared three images from first-team training, captioning them: "Futbol is my life," with numerous United players showing their support by liking the post.
Responding to the post, Rashford penned: "Lil bro is a *star emoji*." Gabriel reciprocated with the raising hands emoji.
Gabriel has been on fire for United's Under-18s this season, netting 20 goals in 22 matches. He's currently in scintillating form, boasting nine goals in six games, including doubles in his last three league outings.
He stated: "I've enjoyed working with him immensely, getting to know him. He's a young lad with a massive sort of hype, you know there's a lot of noise around him and deservedly so because he's a real talented kid.
"He works hard. First thing I'd say is he loves football. He loves training, he loves playing, he loves having the ball, he loves expressing himself. He makes fantastic decisions. He's got an enthusiasm for the game that's just amazing. 15-year-old, a bright future ahead of him. I'm super excited by his talent, but the most important thing is that he keeps developing, and he's in the U18s team, and he's doing fantastically well, but he's still got lots to learn.
"He's developing within there. But the world's his oyster and he just needs to go on his journey and his time will come in due course. But for just now, it's a little bit early (to put him in the first team) I think and I think a lot of people would agree with me. But I couldn't speak highly enough of JJ. He's got an amazing family and amazing support around him and he's somebody we're delighted to have at the club.
"And we just hope he keeps improving, learning every day and just keep being the boy that he is really and enjoying love and playing football and going and expressing themselves and scoring lots of goals so the Manchester United under 18s win every game. And then I'll be a happy man."