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Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has drawn daring comparisons between wonderkid JJ Gabriel and a membership icon.
Gabriel’s rise at United
Gabriel’s inventory is shortly rising inside United’s youth system, the place he’s being hailed as one of the thrilling prospects on the membership.
Over the weekend, he scored a powerful 22-minute hat-trick for United’s Beneath-18s as they cruised to a 4-0 victory over Derby County.
His three objectives had been simply the most recent of what has been an unimaginable begin to the season for Gabriel, who has notched 5 objectives in his opening three video games for the Beneath-18s. Notably, he’s nonetheless simply 14, however taking part in at a stage that surpasses his age group.
Earlier this 12 months, Gabriel turned United’s youngest-ever Beneath-18s debutant when he got here on from the bench to attain twice in a 13-1 hammering of Leeds. He has drawn curiosity from Actual Madrid and Barcelona, however United are hoping to maintain him for the foreseeable future, with a pathway to the primary group in sight.
Talking on his Rio Ferdinand Presents YouTube channel, Ferdinand waxed lyrical about Gabriel, likening the starlet to Wayne Rooney.
Ferdinand on Gabriel
Ferdinand mentioned, “I’ve been watching my previous mate, Darren Fletcher is now the supervisor of the under-18s, doing a wonderful job there.”
“Maintain listening to him speak about Man United, DNA, and making gamers run, be aggressive, and having to be relentless. I watched him the opposite day smash up a number of groups’ final three or 4 video games, banged in objectives galore. However may have scored extra, dominating groups.”
The six-time Premier League winner continued, “They’ve acquired a child known as JJ Gabriel. I do know you’ve heard of him. Wow. He’s acquired an enormous probability. Huge.”
“He’s the one who might be talked about alongside Rio [Ngumoha] and Max Dowman. He’s the subsequent one, I’m telling you.”
“Like to see it. And these youngsters have gotten confidence, I don’t assume that lads in our era [had], solely the likes of Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen and Joe Cole, I’ve seen confidence like that.”
United are taking a measured strategy with Gabriel, managing each his progress and the rising hype to protect him from extreme strain.
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