A 16-year-old who stopped turning up at Manchester United’s Carrington academy in September is now training with Real Madrid.

JJ Gabriel, a forward with an Irish passport, has verbally agreed in principle to join Real, according to Sky Sports Germany reporter Florian Plettenberg. Nothing has been signed. No formal announcement has been made by either club.

Fabrizio Romano put the state of play plainly.

“It’s not a done deal as of now, but Real Madrid remain in the leading seat,” the transfer reporter told Football365, adding that the Spanish club are “way ahead of the other candidates.”

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The four clubs left behind

Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain were all linked with Gabriel over the autumn. Romano told Football365 that Gabriel’s agents met several clubs, but “Barcelona have different priorities, Paris Saint-Germain have different priorities” and Bayern “are not advancing.” According to The Peoples Person, those three remain on standby in case the Madrid deal falls through. Goal.com has reported that Chelsea were keen but faced tougher regulatory hurdles as a Premier League rival.

Real have been keen to avoid damaging the relationship with Manchester United over the move.

Why he left Carrington

Gabriel stopped reporting to the United training ground in September, on the eve of a Carabao Cup tie against Brighton he had been due to feature in. According to Goal.com, he asked to cancel his registration after insisting he be guaranteed at least 20 minutes across games against Sabah FK, Brighton and Bournemouth before discussing a scholarship deal.

Wayne Rooney, whose son Kai is in the same United academy, said in September that none of this had come out of nowhere.

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“Since he’s been about 12 or 13, there has been talk of him going to play in Spain, so I think anyone who has been around it, this is not a surprise at all,” Rooney said on the Stick to United podcast, adding that “in fairness to Manchester United, they’ve done everything, they’ve done absolutely everything to keep him at the club.”

January is the target

“Real were the favourites. The transfer is now being pushed towards completion. Nothing has been signed yet,” Plettenberg said on Sky Sports Germany. Gabriel, who turned 16 in October, holds an Irish passport, which clears him to move inside the EU. Both reporters put the target window at January 2027, with the move expected to be formally completed in 2027 once FIFA signs off on the compensation package owed to United, according to Goal.com.

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