{"id":9329,"date":"2026-11-04T21:01:15","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T21:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/04\/real-madrid-close-in-on-man-united-wonderkid-jj-gabriel-businessday-ng\/"},"modified":"2026-11-04T21:01:15","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T21:01:15","slug":"real-madrid-close-in-on-man-united-wonderkid-jj-gabriel-businessday-ng","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/04\/real-madrid-close-in-on-man-united-wonderkid-jj-gabriel-businessday-ng\/","title":{"rendered":"Real Madrid close in on Man United wonderkid JJ Gabriel &#8211; Businessday NG"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Real Madrid have reportedly reached a verbal agreement to sign 16-year-old Manchester United prospect JJ Gabriel, with the Spanish giants targeting a move for the teenager in January.\n<\/p>\n<p>Gabriel remains registered with Manchester United\u2019s academy until the end of the season but has not returned to the club since walking out in September amid uncertainty over his future.\n<\/p>\n<p>The highly rated forward, who featured against Atl\u00e9tico Madrid during United\u2019s pre-season tour, had been expected to become the club\u2019s youngest-ever debutant in September\u2019s Carabao Cup tie against Brighton.\n<\/p>\n<p>However, he has opted to explore opportunities elsewhere for senior football and has reportedly been training on his own in Spain.\n<\/p>\n<p>Gabriel\u2019s representatives requested his departure from United in September and sought to have him deregistered immediately to enable him to become a free agent.<\/p>\n<p>The teenager, who qualifies for a European Union passport through his parents, has secured the document, potentially making it easier for him to join a club outside England.\n<\/p>\n<p>FIFA regulations provide certain exceptions that allow European clubs to sign young players from other countries, although the applicable rules depend on the player\u2019s age, nationality and the circumstances of the transfer.\n<\/p>\n<p>Manchester United would be entitled to compensation if Gabriel leaves, although the amount could be lower if he joins a club outside the Premier League.\n<\/p>\n<p>Gabriel has attracted considerable attention following his performances at the youth level. He scored a hat-trick on his UEFA Youth League debut and was named Premier League Under-18 Player of the Season last term, despite being only 14 during the campaign.\n<\/p>\n<p>A Manchester United source described him as \u201cthe best 15-year-old in Europe\u201d earlier this year, while former interim manager Darren Fletcher said: \u201cThe world is his oyster.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"bday-read-also\">\n<h4>Related News<\/h4>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"bday-author-bio\" readability=\"7.6279069767442\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Real-Madrid-close-in-on-Man-United-wonderkid-JJ-Gabriel-Businessday-NG.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ee23b3126f1c5dc21b6738f361bff36ef0bc68e6c602d54f5fc2bc191e84d838?s=96&amp;d=mm&amp;r=g 2x\" class=\"avatar avatar-48 photo bday-author-bio__avatar\" height=\"48\" width=\"48\" decoding=\"async\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div readability=\"10.488372093023\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/businessday.ng\/author\/anthony-nlebem\/\">Anthony Nlebem<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Head of Sports at BusinessDay Media, a seasoned Digital Content Producer, and FIFA\/CAF Accredited Journalist with over a decade of sports reporting.Has a deep understanding of the Nigerian and global sports landscape and skills in delivering comprehensive and insightful sports content.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"bday-google-badges\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=businessday.ng\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><br \/>\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Real-Madrid-close-in-on-Man-United-wonderkid-JJ-Gabriel-Businessday-NG-1.jpg\" alt=\"Add BusinessDay as a preferred source on Google\"\/><br \/>\n\t<\/a><br \/>\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqKQgKIiNDQklTRkFnTWFoQUtEbUoxYzJsdVpYTnpaR0Y1TG01bktBQVAB?hl=en-NG&amp;gl=NG&amp;ceid=NG%3Aen\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><br \/>\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Real-Madrid-close-in-on-Man-United-wonderkid-JJ-Gabriel-Businessday-NG-2.jpg\" alt=\"Follow BusinessDay on Google News\"\/><br \/>\n\t<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p>Source: <\/p>\n<div class=\"nSourse\">Businessday NG<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Real Madrid have reportedly reached a verbal agreement to sign 16-year-old Manchester United prospect JJ Gabriel, with the Spanish giants targeting a move for the teenager in January. Gabriel remains&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9330,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}