JJ Gabriel has already earned the respect of five Manchester United team-mates after making his debut for the club. The 15-year-old came on as a substitute in the 2-1 pre-season friendly win over Atletico Madrid in Stockholm on Saturday, becoming the club's youngest ever player to feature for the senior side.
Record-breaking debut
Gabriel scored 26 goals for the Under-18s last season but was ineligible for Premier League action due to age rules. He was named in his first senior squad for the clash with Rosenborg, where he remained on the bench during a 5-0 win. Against Atletico, he replaced Bryan Mbeumo, who had scored both United goals.
Team-mates' praise
Mbeumo had earlier praised Gabriel's abilities, saying: "He's actually kind of a winger, he's a dribbler and even in front of the box, I still think he's good, honestly. He's strong, the little guy is strong. Yeah, he's strong, he's really something, frankly... I think he's 15. You feel that he's bound to be a little kid but he trains quite a bit with us and actually you see, you can feel that the little guy has something special."
Marcus Rashford, who was on loan at Aston Villa at the time, responded to Gabriel's milestone post with "Future star" and a star emoji, later commenting "Lil bro is a star" on a training picture. Ayden Heaven said: "For his age, he's unbelievable! You know he's ready and he'll get his chance and we expect a lot from him, from what we see."
Amad Diallo wrote "More to come little bro" on Instagram, and Leny Yoro commented: "He's a really good player. Still really young, still a lot to learn, a lot to improve. He's really humble, still working, so I'm happy for him to get his first minutes, so I hope for him it's going to continue like that."
Manager's view
Michael Carrick praised the youngster's impact, saying: "And again, seeing the young players coming on and having an impact, and Jimmy [Thwaites] and JJ coming on at the end, they are two younger players, again, [who get] their first kind of taste for it, for us, so it's great for us to be in a position for me to give them opportunities to the boys."
