During Sky Sports' pre-match show, Manchester United legend Gary Neville discussed the potential departure of 15-year-old JJ Gabriel. He stated he couldn't judge whether the player should be in the first team at this stage, but felt his camp's handling of the situation was far from ideal, emphasizing that young players shouldn't be subjected to excessive external pressure at such a young age.

Back at Craven Cottage. We're continuing our pre-match buildup for Manchester United's trip to Fulham. Gary Neville, great to see you again. We usually meet you pitchside at Old Trafford, but this time we've made the journey all the way out here. Gary, beautiful day, isn't it?

Gary Neville: The weather's excellent today. For whichever team gets the three points today, it'll be a good afternoon, because both sides really need those three points right now.

Fulham are currently bottom of the table, and they can perhaps take some encouragement from Coventry's performance last night. That was a really brilliant match yesterday evening—I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially the last 25 minutes. Coventry played very well during that spell.

I also smiled seeing Brandon Thomas-Asante. Of course, I know him very well given our connection at Salford City. He put in an excellent performance last night, and it was good to watch. So last night's match was genuinely excellent, and Fulham can perhaps draw some encouragement from it because they really need to pick up points quickly. I'm a little concerned about Fulham. Not because I'm a Fulham supporter, but after watching their performances this season, that's how I feel. Their attacking players are talented but lack experience. The manager is also clearly still adapting to the Premier League.

The style of football they're playing right now, I think, requires everything to click, with almost no margin for error. We've seen this pattern before. I think teams like Sunderland, Leeds United, and even Hull City make the point: when teams come up from the Championship, that more physical style of play is actually well-suited to the Premier League. Now it feels like we're moving back towards this short-passing, back-and-forth type of football.

I know Fulham aren't a recently promoted Championship side, but over recent years, teams that have ultimately been relegated often played this type of football. So I'm a bit concerned for them, but today is a huge match for them.

As for Manchester United, because of events over the past weeks, this match has become far more important for them than it should have been.

Indeed, a lot has happened at Manchester United this week. So I think we can run through these events at Old Trafford in chronological order. Let's start with the Manchester derby—we all know what happened in that match. A few days later, there was another major story involving 15-year-old JJ Gabriel. As you know, he's a talented player who's attracted interest from several clubs. From what we understand, the core issue is that his camp feels he should have been included in the Champions League squad A list, possibly given an opportunity in the match against Shabab Al Ahli, and that he should be getting more pre-season minutes. But from Manchester United's perspective, they feel they've done almost everything they could. For example, they arranged for him to meet Sir Alex Ferguson, had him meet Ruben Amorim, and have allowed him to train with the first team. So Gary, what's your take? I know the heart of all this is a 15-year-old kid, but from an outside perspective, what do you make of it?

First of all, I can't comment on whether he should be in the first team or not. I genuinely can't, because I haven't seen enough of his matches. Obviously, he may have seen other players make their debuts for their clubs at this age and thought, "I should be there too."

You just said the heart of this matter is a 15-year-old child. I don't think his representatives really know what they're doing. Of course, if they want him to go to another club, they absolutely have that right, and there's no issue with that.

But it's clear that his camp chose to make this public this week. Manchester United certainly wouldn't want to actively leak such news—it's not in their interest. So they chose to blow this up at this moment, and they knew full well that Manchester United had just lost a derby and the club was already under pressure. Still, they went ahead anyway.

If that was my 15-year-old son, I wouldn't want him under this kind of pressure. Over the past thirty or forty years, I've seen many 16, 17, and 18-year-olds at Manchester United. It's never good for them to bear such enormous pressure at such a young age. In fact, historically, we've often tried to avoid this, and it's the same approach now. You do it whenever circumstances allow. For instance, how Arsenal managed Max Dowman—you try to keep these young players out of the spotlight, look after them, and protect them.

But what his representatives have done this week has essentially poured fuel on the fire. I don't think that's the right approach. Of course, at some point in the future, he may choose to leave. But I don't think he can leave right now.

Actually, there's a FIFA precedent where he could join a European club outside the Premier League.

He can leave immediately?

Once he turns 16. It also requires FIFA approval.

When does he turn 16?

I believe it's October 6th.

Oh, so he's preparing for that. Well, that makes sense. If this lad really wants to play abroad, maybe he needs to start making moves now. However, if it were me, I might wait until the international break to sort it out.

The international break is coming up next week. Until then, the external pressure won't be quite so intense. I think the timing of how they've handled this in the middle of last week wasn't good. And I can assure you it's not helping the kid.

But it's already happened, and that's the situation now. It certainly doesn't help Manchester United. Some people will want to know exactly what's gone on here, and I'm one of them. Manchester United has always been a club that many academy players are eager to join.

To be fair, they've always believed in giving young players opportunities and promoting academy players into the first team, and they continue to do so. Over the past twelve, thirteen, even fourteen years, even when the club has faced many difficulties, they've consistently developed young players and integrated them into the first team.

But if this lad wants to leave and has been swayed by other options, then so be it. I just get the feeling that in every respect, this situation could have been handled much better.

From Manchester United's perspective, I'm sure they won't be happy with how this week has unfolded. It also sends the wrong message to other young players. But if JJ Gabriel does end up leaving, Manchester United will still be there in many years to come.

Traduit par IA.

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