JJ Gabriel has fulfilled Marcus Rashford prediction as Man United update given
Manchester United wonderkid JJ Gabriel has caught the eye of Marcus Rashford with his performances for the Under-18s
JJ Gabriel has starred for Manchester United Under-18s(Image: Poppy Townson – MUFC/Manchester United via Getty Images)
It hasn’t taken long for JJ Gabriel to come good on his promise as a young footballer. Former Manchester United academy graduate Marcus Rashford tipped the teenager to become a future star and believes he’s already there – despite still waiting on a senior debut.
Gabriel, who turned 15 in October, isn’t allowed to play Premier League football until next season due to competition rules on the age of players. He has already trained with the first-team squad under Ruben Amorim and Michael Carrick, though, while continuing to score for fun while turning out for United’s Under-18s.
In April 2025, Gabriel became the youngest player to turn out for the Under-18 side. It didn’t take long for him to also become their youngest scorer, bagging a brace after coming off the bench against Leeds.
At the time, Rashford was on loan at Aston Villa. This didn’t stop him from commenting on the teenager’s post celebrating his achievement, though, writing “”Future star” and adding a star emoji.
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Since that goalscoring debut, Gabriel has gone from strength to strength. He has scored 18 goals in 19 matches in the Under-18 Premier League this season and also became United’s youngest FA Youth Cup scorer when he netted the winner against Peterborough on his debut in the competition.
Rashford, who is spending this season with Barcelona, has kept tabs on the youngster. Gabriel shared photos of himself training with the first-team yet again, prompting the England international to write: “Lil bro is a star” – losing that ‘future’ qualifier already.
Gabriel and Rashford have very different tasks awaiting them this week. The former will be out to fire United into the FA Youth Cup semi-finals when they face Sunderland on Wednesday while the latter is in action for Barcelona against Newcastle in the Champions League.
Earlier this season, United interim boss Carrick spoke about bringing Gabriel in for first-team training sessions. “He is not allowed [to be part of a first-team squad on a matchday]. He’s too young,” he said.
“JJ’s doing really well. We’ve got some really good players in the academy and we try and get the younger players up [with the main group] as much as we can.”
He added: “We’re always trying to give them (academy prospects) that exposure. JJ is a big talent, it is pretty obvious and he has had a good season for the Under-18s. We think an awful lot of him.
“But patience is important in managing everything that comes with that and developing him and picking the right moment to step up, to leave them in a certain place. He’s trained well and it is good to have young players up.”
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