Man Utd's academy was rocked last month when staff received a request from JJ Gabriel's camp to leave the club.
JJ Gabriel pictured during training at Carrington.(Image: 2026 Manchester United FC)
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Manchester United youngster JJ Gabriel could agree a deal to leave the club in just under 48 hours.
Gabriel celebrates his 16th birthday on Tuesday. He holds an EU passport, which means he will be allowed to join a club within the European Union, provided the switch is given approval by FIFA, who have strict rules to govern the international movement of footballers under the age of 18.
Although certain requirements will need to be fulfilled by Gabriel's camp to agree a move away from United, it's thought they would not have requested to leave if they weren't confident of overcoming the red tape.
United are still hopeful of finding a resolution to keep Gabriel at the club. United chiefs were unsure why Gabriel's camp requested to leave last month and have attempted to salvage the situation.
Gabriel last trained at Carrington over a fortnight ago, but he has remained sharp by training individually with a private coach in Castelldefels, Barcelona.
The youngster and his family have been regular visitors to Barcelona. Gabriel has trained with local specialist coaches during his time there, but he also occasionally invites a private coach from Manchester to join him.
While Gabriel has trained in Barcelona, talks have been held with the Catalan club, along with Real Madrid.
Madrid have worked hard to put themselves in a position to sign Gabriel, but they are conscious of how sensitive the situation must be handled, given FIFA's strict rules on signing U18 players.
Barcelona's sporting director Deco recently denied interest in Gabriel, saying: "There's nothing to say about this boy. It's normal we always have players linked with us.
"There's a huge market for that, even when they are young. We are not interested in any player in his situation. I'm not sure what's happening, and if he's still a Manchester United player.
"We are not involved in that. First of all, we need to understand how the situation is before we try to do something. To speak about young, teenage players, it is not our business."
However, Barcelona are interested in signing Gabriel, who has been on their radar for several years.