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

Welcome back to Craven Cottage. We're continuing our pre-match coverage ahead of Manchester United's away fixture against Fulham. Gary Neville, great to see you again. Normally we'd meet you at Old Trafford, but this time we've travelled down here. Gary, lovely day weather-wise, isn't it?

Gary Neville: The weather is absolutely beautiful today. It'll be a nice afternoon for whichever team manages to get three points, because both sides desperately need them right now.

Fulham are currently in the bottom half of the table, and they might take some encouragement from Coventry's performance last night. It was a very good game last night, I really enjoyed it, especially the last 25 minutes. Coventry played very well during that period.

I also smiled when I saw Brandon Thomas-Asante. Of course, I know him very well, given our connection with Salford City. He was excellent last night, and I really enjoyed watching him play. So it was a great game last night, and Fulham can take some encouragement from that, because they really need to start picking up points quickly. I'm a bit concerned about Fulham. Not because I'm a Fulham fan, of course, but from watching their performance this season, I really do feel that way. Their attacking players are talented, but they lack experience. The manager is still clearly adapting to the Premier League.

The style of football they're playing now, I think it requires everything to be perfect, with almost no margin for error. We've seen this type of football before. I think teams like Sunderland, Leeds United and even Hull City showed that when teams come up from the Championship, a more physical style of football is really suited to the Premier League. Now, it feels like a bit of a return to that short-passing, possession-based football.

I know Fulham aren't a team that's just come up from the Championship, but in recent years, the teams that end up getting relegated tend to play this type of football. So I do have some concerns about them, but today is a very important game for them.

As for Manchester United, because of everything that's happened over the past few weeks, this game has become far more significant for them than perhaps it should have been.

Indeed, a lot has happened at Manchester United this week. So I think we can go through the events at Old Trafford in chronological order. Let's start with the Manchester Derby; we all know what happened in that game. A few days later, there was another very significant piece of news about 15-year-old JJ Gabriel. As you know, he's a talented player who has attracted attention from many clubs. From what we understand, the crux of the issue is that his representatives believe he should have been included on the UEFA Champions League A-List, perhaps given an opportunity in the match against FK Qarabag, and should have received more playing time during pre-season. However, from Manchester United's perspective, they feel they've done almost everything they could. For example, arranging for him to meet Sir Alex Ferguson, having him meet with Ruben Amorim, and also allowing him to train with the first team. So Gary, what's your take on this? Of course, I know a 15-year-old boy is at the centre of all this, but from an outside observer's perspective, what do you see?

First of all, I can't really judge whether he should be in the first team or not. I really can't, because I haven't seen enough of his matches. Obviously, he may have seen other players of the same age already playing for their clubs and thinks: "I should be there too".

As you've just said, a 15-year-old boy is at the centre of all this. I don't think his representatives really know what they're doing. Of course, if they want him to go to another football club, they have every right to do so; there's nothing wrong with that.

But clearly his team chose to make this public this week. Manchester United certainly wouldn't want to announce such news on their own, as it's not in Manchester United's interests. So they chose to inflame things at this moment, and they were well aware that Manchester United had just lost a derby and the club itself was under pressure. But they went ahead anyway.

If that was my 15-year-old son, I wouldn't want him under this kind of pressure. You know, over the last three or four decades, I've seen many young players aged 16, 17, 18 at Manchester United. It's never good for them to be under such immense pressure at such a young age. In fact, in the past, we often tried to avoid this situation, and it's the same now. You do that whenever possible. The way Arsenal handled Max Dowman — you try to keep these young players out of the spotlight, look after them and protect them.

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

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

Immediately?

Once he turns 16. That would also require FIFA approval.

When does he turn 16?

I believe it's 6 October.

Ah, so he's preparing for that. Well, that makes sense then. If the boy really wants to play abroad, maybe they'll need to start acting now. But if it were me, I'd probably wait until the international break to deal with this.

The international break is coming up next week. By then, the outside noise won't be so intense. I think the timing they chose to deal with this in the latter part of the week wasn't good. And I can guarantee, it's not helping the boy.

But it's happened, and this is the situation now. It certainly doesn't help Manchester United either. Some people will want to know exactly what's going on here, and I'm one of them. You know, Manchester United has always been a club where many academy players choose to stay.

To be fair, they've always believed in giving opportunities to young players, developing academy players into the first team, and they're still doing that. Over the last twelve, thirteen or even fourteen years, even when the club faced many difficulties, they still developed young players and brought them through to the first team.

But if this boy wants to leave, and if he's been influenced by other options, that's fine too. I just think that in every respect, this could have been handled better.

From Manchester United's perspective, I'm sure they won't be happy with what's happened this week. It also sends a bad signal to other young players. But if JJ Gabriel eventually does leave, Manchester United will still be here many years later.

Traduzido por IA.

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