Photo by Manchester United/Manchester United via Getty Images
Photo by Manchester United/Manchester United via Getty Images
Former England striker Gary Lineker has dropped a telling verdict on the ongoing situation around Manchester United talent JJ Gabriel at Old Trafford.
JJ Gabriel has become a major talking point this week after the 15-year-old Manchester United youth academy product’s desire to leave the Red Devils.
United were sent a formal notice that the Red Devils forward wanted to cancel his registration with the Premier League club after relationships on both sides soured.
However, the Red Devils are believed to be keen to find a peaceful resolution to the problem around Gabriel instead of letting the teenager leave Old Trafford.
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Gary Lineker does not think that the publicity will do Man Utd forward JJ Gabriel any favours
JJ Gabriel’s decision to quit Manchester United sparked an immediate reaction from Red Devils supporters on social media earlier this week. Even Michael Carrick had to address the situation around Gabriel after Man Utd’s 3-2 defeat to Brighton at Old Trafford in the third round of the Carabao Cup.
Speaking on his podcast, Gary Lineker admitted that he was “treading carefully” with the conversation around the 15-year-old due to the different rumblings around United and Gabriel’s family.
“I would say obviously we were treading carefully here because we don’t know the ins and outs of this,” he said on The Rest Is Football show.
“There might be something that we didn’t know about. So, we need to be relatively cautious, particularly speaking about a young man, obviously prodigiously talented.”
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However, former Match of the Day presenter Lineker admitted that the fallout from the Gabriel and United saga won’t do the teenager any benefit due to the exposure coming from it.
“So, we don’t quite know the circumstances,” he continued.
“But I don’t see this as a good thing at this stage of anyone’s career, where you’re kind of thrust into the headlines before you’ve actually really played any adult football.
“I know he’s been playing way beyond his years and he’s a super special talent.”
Lineker has said that he has never watched Gabriel perform over the course of 90 minutes, but the 65-year-old former Barcelona striker has caught clips of him.
“But we have seen super special talents that have never quite realised their potential,” he added.
“Hopefully he does. I’ve not seen him play a full 90 minutes. I’ve seen him in lots of clips. He really does look very, very special.”
Gabriel has attracted interest from Real Madrid, Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich amid the uncertainty around his future at Man Utd.