Ryan Giggs has questioned the camp of Manchester United teenager JJ Gabriel for "disrupting" his development by pushing to leave the club. Gabriel's representatives submitted a deregistration request to United in September, seeking an exit over alleged broken promises.
Gabriel's Exit Request and Debut Plans
The teenager's representatives wanted him to make his first-team debut against Sabah in the Champions League, feature against Brighton in the Carabao Cup and Bournemouth in the Premier League. Gabriel was not included in the squad United submitted to UEFA.
United planned to give Gabriel his debut against Brighton, but his camp submitted a request to leave before that game. The 16-year-old would have become the youngest player in United's history had he played that night.
Training Away and Real Madrid Move
Gabriel has not reported to Carrington since September. He has trained in Castelldefels, Barcelona, with private coaches, and is now closing in on a transfer to Real Madrid, subject to FIFA clearance.
Giggs previously described Gabriel as a "generational talent", but when he sat down to speak to Rio Ferdinand this week, he questioned the youngster's camp for plotting a move away from United.
Giggs' Advice on Patience
"So far in his career everything is going fine, why would you disrupt that? You're on the right track," Giggs told Ferdinand's YouTube channel. "I trained at 15. I didn't play for the first team until two years later, so you have to have that patience that people just don't seem to have at the moment."
"And believe it or not, first-team football for Man United is completely different to playing in the youth team, playing pre-season for the first team, it's completely different. That first game, yeah, you might do alright, but you have to do it for 40, 50 games a season. You're going to get injuries, loss of form, bad results, so you have to be patient."
United were initially hopeful a resolution could be found, but Gabriel is set to leave the club. Michael Carrick handed Gabriel his pre-season senior debut against Atletico Madrid in Stockholm, but the youngster did not play a single minute in any other friendly over the remainder of the summer.
