Real Madrid has agreed to meet every demand that drove 16-year-old JJ Gabriel out of Manchester United’s academy, and the forward is now expected to complete the switch in January.

José Mourinho’s side is “prepared to offer what both the player and Manchester United are asking”, according to Spanish outlet Bernabéu Digital, which cast Gabriel as a player who could step into the first team “very soon.”

Gabriel, who turned 16 recently, had been on course to become the youngest player ever to appear in a United first-team match when he was included in the matchday squad for an EFL Cup tie against Brighton at 15. He has since been left out of squads for a Premier League meeting with Ipswich and a Champions League tie against Sabah, and his camp has submitted a formal request to terminate his registration at Old Trafford.

The demands United wouldn’t meet

The split hinges on a list of contract terms Gabriel’s representatives wanted written into any new deal. According to TeamTalk, which first reported the rejection, the list included:

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• shirt number 77
• “Gabriel JR” printed on the back of the shirt
• training exclusively with the first team, never with the Under-18s or Under-21s
• at least 20 guaranteed minutes in three specific earlier-season matches
• a seven-figure annual salary

United said no to the package. The club has now, according to a Daily Mail report carried by CaughtOffside, given up hope of changing Gabriel’s mind, with his camp, led by super-agent Ali Barat, treating the Old Trafford door as closed.

Mourinho makes the pitch over Barcelona

Barcelona held direct talks and were considered a serious contender into the autumn, with Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich also linked. Manchester City made a separate approach two summers earlier that Gabriel’s family turned down.

The decisive push toward the Santiago Bernabéu, TeamTalk reports, came from Mourinho, who was confirmed as Real Madrid head coach on a three-year deal running until June 2029.

A €15m fee and a seven-figure wage

The fee is expected to be around €15m, with Gabriel’s wage demand put at a minimum of €1m a year, according to football365. United’s compensation if he moves abroad under FIFA rules would land at around £350,000, a figure that would likely sit well above £3m if an English club were paying it through a Premier League tribunal.

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The club had considered legal action and offered Gabriel a scholarship contract designed to prevent fee-free exits by English academy players as a last line of defence. That route now looks to be overtaken by events.

Gabriel is close to securing a Cypriot passport to work around post-Brexit paperwork on under-18 signings, with his camp expecting the process to be finalised in the coming days. A formal switch to Madrid would then be completed in the January transfer window.

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