JJ Gabriel has broken his silence on his protracted and bitter move from Manchester United to Real Madrid, offering an eight-word explanation for his decision. Speaking to Spanish newspaper Marca in Madrid, the 16-year-old said: “My dream is to win the Ballon d'Or.”
Gabriel is poised to join Real after going AWOL from United in September in an attempt to force through a move, having grown frustrated at the pace of his elevation to the first team. The teenager has enlisted the help of super agent Ali Barat to make his dream of a move to the Bernabeu come true.
Background to the Move
Gabriel attracted attention from Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain before settling on Jose Mourinho's Real as his choice. Despite remaining under registration with United, who he joined in 2022, Gabriel has cut all ties with the club.
United are therefore considering legal action against Real in order to extract compensation beyond the fee of between £100,000 to £300,000 that FIFA usually insists upon in these situations. The Red Devils are yet to be contacted by Real, who have reportedly offered Gabriel a three-year contract worth more than £850,000 (€1m) per season.
Training and Registration Issues
Having previously been training in Barcelona, Gabriel has switched to Madrid while the process remains ongoing and he spoke to Marca alongside his dad after a session with his personal trainer. After joking about choosing Real over rivals Barca, Gabriel made his Ballon d'Or statement.
Extracting him from United and negotiating a deal isn't the only barrier for Real Madrid. Gabriel will also have to go into the club's reserves, Castilla, because he can't play in the Youth League this season as he's under registration with United.
Timeline and Warning
Players under the age of 18 are usually not allowed to move so early, but Gabriel - who was born in England but has Irish and Cypriot heritage - has a European Union passport. Marca reports that Gabriel's move to Real might not be announced until January, when the club can officially register him in the transfer window. It means that, even when everything is agreed with Real, the saga will likely continue into 2027.
Gabriel has been sent a warning by United legend Ryan Giggs, who has questioned his eagerness to leave the club. “So far in his career everything is going fine, why would you disrupt that? You’re on the right track,” Giggs said on Rio 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.”
