Man United Weigh Up Next Step for 15-Year-Old Wonderkid JJ Gabriel

Manchester United are trying to figure out the right timing for handing first-team minutes to 15-year-old forward JJ Gabriel, who has been turning heads with a string of standout goals for the club's academy sides.

Head coach Michael Carrick has been careful with his words when discussing the youngster, aware that any hype now sits on his shoulders to manage.

"JJ is one of the boys," Carrick said last month. "He's obviously got a really big talent. He's trained with us quite a bit and is getting experience all the time. He's physically adapting to each step, and we're just continuing his development."

Carrick watched Gabriel in person at Leigh Sports Village when the teenager made his Premier League 2 debut against Ipswich. He scored with a cheeky scooped finish over the keeper, taking a pass on his left foot before lifting it in with his right from the edge of the box.

A week later, Gabriel topped that with an even more impressive goal against Leicester. He controlled a pass with his back to goal, dragged the ball back to spin away from his marker, held off a challenge, cut inside a second defender, and slotted home from close range, all in under five seconds. Clips of the goal have since racked up millions of views online.

The comparisons to Ryan Giggs have already started. Giggs made his United debut at 17 back in 1991, and Sir Alex Ferguson famously described spotting him for the first time in his autobiography, saying watching Giggs felt like a gold miner stumbling on a nugget after searching an entire mountain.

Giggs himself has been asked about Gabriel and offered a measured take during an appearance on Rio Ferdinand Presents: The Debrief.

"Sometimes you have to be patient," Giggs said. "Sometimes it gets to a point where you can't not pick him and not have him train in the first team, that might be in a month, might be six months, might be a year. It's that in-between time where he thinks he should be in the first team. He thinks he should be in the squad every week when Michael sees it a different way, that, actually, no, you need to play games because it's not really going to do you any good travelling here, there and everywhere and you're getting five minutes here, 10 minutes there."

That in-between stage seems to be exactly where Gabriel finds himself now. He travelled with the first team for most of preseason, but only played once, coming off the bench late against Atletico Madrid in Stockholm, where he was quickly clattered by Uruguay captain Jose Maria Gimenez, who is more than twice his age.

United have shown plenty of clips of Gabriel training and joking around with senior players like Benjamin Sesko, reinforcing Carrick's point that he already feels like part of the group.

There had been talk that Gabriel could make his senior debut in the EFL Cup third round, which would make him the youngest player in club history, beating the record set by goalkeeper David Gaskell, who was 16 years and 19 days old when he debuted. Gabriel does not turn 16 until October 6.

Given United's shaky start to the season and a tough Premier League fixture against Brighton coming up on September 16, that plan may not be realistic right now.

There is also the Champions League to consider, since it allows 11 substitutes compared to nine domestically. But Gabriel did not train with the first team on Wednesday, which makes an appearance against Sabah FK on Thursday look unlikely.

Another option could be the Under-19 UEFA Youth League, a competition United's academy is prioritizing this season after stepping away from the EFL Trophy and National League Cup. Gabriel was also due to feature in a Premier League 2 derby against Manchester City this weekend, but that match has been postponed because of United's midweek European schedule.

Unlike Giggs, who came through in an era without social media, Gabriel's rise is playing out in public, with expectations building online in a way that simply did not exist 35 years ago.

United's next Premier League 2 fixture before the international break is against Brentford at Leigh on September 18. After that, various England youth teams will call up players for their own matches. For now, Gabriel's performances keep raising the question of when, not if, he will get his shot with the first team.