According to an exclusive report by Matt Law of The Daily Telegraph, 15-year-old Manchester United prodigy JJ-Gabriel, dubbed "Little Messi," has suddenly submitted a request to leave the club. He has officially notified Manchester United of his desire to immediately cancel his registration with the club, thereby becoming a free agent.

JJ-Gabriel's full name is Joseph Junior Andreou-Gabriel, and he is considered one of the most outstanding young players in English football. He has been with Manchester United since the age of 11.

This decision has shocked Manchester United, and such a situation is almost unprecedented. It is understood that Gabriel currently has no immediate plans to join another club but has decided he wishes to leave Manchester United after four years.

According to relevant regulations, clubs cannot sign professional contracts with players before they turn 17, and academy scholarship contracts can only be signed after players turn 16. Gabriel will not turn 16 until October 6, so he is currently still under the youth player registration system.

Manchester United can object to Gabriel's application to cancel his registration.

The Premier League regulations state: "During your child’s registration, the registration can only be cancelled if all relevant parties – the Club, the player and their parent or guardian – all agree."

The regulations also state: "If the parties cannot agree, any party can ask the Premier League to make a binding decision on the application to terminate the registration."

It is currently unclear whether Manchester United will reject Gabriel's application. However, the club is believed to not yet view the current situation as completely irretrievable and has not given up hope of resolving the issue and persuading the player to stay.

In fact, Manchester United had originally planned to include Gabriel in the first-team squad for Wednesday night's League Cup match against Brighton.

Gabriel's sudden request to leave is surprising and has led to serious questions about Manchester United's current academy management. For a long time, Manchester United has been regarded as one of the most successful academies for developing young talent in English football.

And after Manchester City, the local rivals, won the Manchester Derby with ten men, and fans extensively protested against co-owners Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the Glazer family, Gabriel's request to cancel his registration at this time is undoubtedly another blow for Manchester United's management.

Just last week, Gabriel scored a hat-trick in the UEFA Youth League match against Sabah Baku, further gaining attention beyond Old Trafford. Last season, he also became the youngest winner of Manchester United's Jimmy Murphy Young Player of the Year award.

Manchester United legend Ryan Giggs, who also won the award, called Gabriel a "generational talent" and compared his development trajectory to Wayne Rooney.

Due to Gabriel's previous popularity on social media, he also earned the nickname "Little Messi." A source from a rival Manchester United club told The Daily Telegraph: "If he really leaves, it's like Barcelona losing Messi before he even played for the first team. It would be a big deal."

The day after scoring a hat-trick against Sabah Baku, Gabriel's social media accounts removed all Manchester United-related content. This week, Manchester United was officially informed that he no longer wished to represent the club.

Manchester United's 15-year-old prodigy JJ-Gabriel clears social media, sparking speculation about his future.

Last year, Manchester City tried to poach Gabriel from Manchester United. In addition, he has also been linked with Arsenal, Real Madrid, and Bayern Munich.

Last season, Gabriel scored over 20 goals in all competitions for Manchester United U18 and was expected to make his first-team debut for Manchester United this season.

The Daily Telegraph subsequently commented that Gabriel's voluntary request to leave is a highly negative event for Manchester United under the leadership of Ratcliffe and the Glazer family.

Manchester United's history is largely built on the tradition of nurturing top local young players, so losing a talent like Gabriel is particularly difficult for the club to accept.

Not many players gain Gabriel's level of attention at 15, and he is considered one of the most precious talents in the English academy system. Manchester United had already completed the most difficult step—successfully fending off Manchester City's poaching attempts—but now faces the risk of the most highly anticipated young player in England voluntarily leaving.

If Gabriel had chosen to join Manchester City last year, perhaps things would have been easier to understand; it would have simply been seen as another academy player moving from one big club to a rival. But now, he prefers to voluntarily cancel his Manchester United registration and temporarily become a free agent rather than stay with the team, a situation that is almost unprecedented.

Gabriel can play as a center forward, left winger, or attacking midfielder. Last season, at just 14 years old, he became the youngest player in Manchester United U18 history to feature, subsequently scoring over 20 goals in all competitions and winning the inaugural Premier League U18 Player of the Season award.

At the same time, he also became the youngest winner of Manchester United's Jimmy Murphy Young Player of the Year award. Previous winners of this award include Giggs, Norman Whiteside, Paul Scholes, Marcus Rashford, and Mark Hughes.

If Gabriel ultimately leaves, Manchester United Football Director Jason Wilcox will also have to face a tricky question: why would such an excellent young player prefer to leave his career temporarily uncertain rather than stay at Manchester United?

Before his 16th birthday on October 6, Gabriel is not expected to lack suitors. Manchester City had previously tried to sign him, Arsenal has also shown interest, and Real Madrid and Bayern Munich have also noticed his talent.

Meanwhile, several top agencies and intermediaries in world football are expected to compete to work with Gabriel. The young player already has a sponsorship deal with Nike.

However, various speculations and accusations surrounding those close to Gabriel will inevitably arise. Ultimately, whether this bold decision truly serves his best interests can only be proven by his future career development and eventual achievements.

Manchester United's return to the Champions League this season was cause for celebration, but the team's 4-0 victory over Sabah might, in the future, be seen as a significant turning point in Gabriel's relationship with Manchester United.

Last season, Arsenal included Max Dowman in the club's 25-man Champions League squad, but Manchester United did not include Gabriel in their Champions League A list this season, meaning he cannot represent Manchester United in Champions League matches.

Facing an opponent like Sabah Baku would have been an excellent opportunity for Manchester United to give Old Trafford fans their first glimpse of Gabriel in the first team. Last season, Dowman, at just 15 years and 308 days old, came on as a substitute in Arsenal's 3-0 victory over Slavia Prague.

On the same day, Gabriel scored a hat-trick in Manchester United's UEFA Youth League match, sparking widespread discussion on social media. But for the player himself and his family, even a few minutes playing for Michael Carrick's first team might have been more valuable than a hat-trick in the youth team.

On January 27 next year, Manchester United will face Villarreal away in the final round of the Champions League group stage. By then, the match might be irrelevant to qualification, but since Gabriel is not on the A list, he will still not be eligible to play.

The day after the first team defeated Sabah and Gabriel himself scored a hat-trick, his social media accounts removed all Manchester United-related information. Less than a week later, the club received his notification that he wished to cancel his registration.

Gabriel was born in Enfield, London. At the age of 11, he joined Manchester United when his family moved to the Manchester area. Those who know him describe Gabriel as quiet, with almost his only true interest being football.

Last year, under a series of recruitment efforts led by Manchester City's Football Director Hugo Viana, Gabriel was very close to switching to the city rivals. Viana at the time used successful academy examples from recent years, such as Phil Foden and Nico O'Reilly, to demonstrate to Gabriel that Manchester City could offer him a path to the first team.

But ultimately, Manchester United's history, the club's size, and concerns about potentially being transferred to other clubs within the City Football Group if he joined Manchester City, led the then 14-year-old Gabriel to decide to stay at Manchester United.

Manchester United then promoted him directly to teams three age groups above his own. Last season, he primarily played for the U18s, and his development rate far exceeded the normal age progression.

However, this rapid promotion still doesn't seem to have convinced Gabriel that his future belongs at Old Trafford.

Of course, a 15-year-old player cannot demand a guarantee of a first-team starting spot, let alone dictate the club's academy strategy. But modern football increasingly emphasizes "if you're good enough, you're old enough." Therefore, Giggs, like Manchester United fans, might be shocked by the prospect that when Gabriel plays his first official senior game, he might not be wearing a Manchester United red shirt.

Giggs previously spoke about Gabriel in an interview with Rio Ferdinand, saying: "He is a generational talent, you could say. There's no point in loaning him out because he's in the best place for him now, and he should gradually get opportunities in the first team."

"That experience is invaluable. Not just playing and training, but traveling with the first team and experiencing first-hand the expectations that Manchester United face. You see how much attention Manchester United gets from the outside, and you have to gradually adapt to all of that."

At the beginning of this season, Gabriel was constantly training back and forth between the Manchester United first team and the U21s. Sometimes, before receiving a phone notification about which group of players he should join that day, he himself couldn't even be sure which team he would train with.

In contrast, Arsenal allowed both Dowman and Ethan Nwaneri to make their first-team debuts at 15. Dowman even scored in the Premier League last season, proving that even top clubs can sometimes give truly special young talents more room for free development.

Before the start of the 2025-26 season, Dowman played for Arsenal in pre-season matches against Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle United, and Villarreal, and made his Premier League debut against Leeds United last August.

Gabriel also joined Manchester United's pre-season squad this summer, but in the match against Atlético Madrid, he only received 13 minutes of playing time, including injury time.

In Gabriel's view, the messages from Manchester United might be contradictory.

On the one hand, the club had previously tried hard to prevent him from joining Manchester City and made him believe that he would continue to get promoted if he performed well; but on the other hand, Manchester United has been very cautious in actually using him, which has made Gabriel doubt whether he is truly valued as the club previously told him and his family.

If Manchester United could have put Gabriel on the bench for their first home game of the season against Ipswich, it would have sent a strong signal to him: that he was at least very close to getting first-team playing time, and it would have made him believe that his dream of making his Premier League first-team debut was gradually becoming a reality.

After Gabriel's hat-trick in the UEFA Youth League, there were strong calls for Manchester United to include him in the squad for the League Cup third-round match against Brighton.

But by then, it seemed it was already too late.

This Manchester United prodigy has decided that he prefers to take his future into his own hands.

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