JJ Gabriel believes Manchester United are on the decline

Manchester United’s 13-year wait for a Premier League title has cast a long shadow over the club since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013.

Ten different permanent or interim managers have come and gone in that time, with United’s closest challenge for the title coming under Jose Mourinho’s second-placed finish back in 2018.

That decline has been felt just as keenly in the academy, where United’s ability to compete with Europe’s genuine superpowers for the very best young talent has increasingly been called into question.

Nowhere has that tension been more visible than in the ongoing saga surrounding one of Carrington’s most gifted teenagers.

JJ Gabriel stunned United last week by formally requesting de-registration from the club, a move that would effectively make him a free agent at just 15 years old.

His reasoning for wanting to leave has finally emerged, and it centres on his belief that United are now on the decline compared to Europe’s genuine heavyweights.

JJ Gabriel believes Manchester United are on the decline

According to the Daily Mail, the way United have fallen behind clubs like Arsenal, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and fierce rivals Manchester City since Ferguson’s retirement is the driving factor behind the Gabriel family’s push for an exit.

A source close to the family told the outlet, “His dad has ambitions for his son to be the best in the world and play with the best and learn from the best and right now that’s not current situation at United, far from it.”

JJ Gabriel and his family have already flown to Barcelona to hold talks with the club, while also maintaining contact with Real Madrid over a potential move.

He refused to train with United’s first team last week ahead of the Carabao Cup defeat to Brighton, despite having been expected in the squad, and has not trained with any of United’s teams since the saga began.

There was also said to be frustration within his camp that he wasn’t included in United’s Champions League squad for the 4-0 win over Sabah, despite already having trained with Michael Carrick’s senior group on previous occasions.

That omission stings given the season Gabriel produced at academy level, scoring 29 goals and adding 4 assists in 32 appearances for the Under-18s, form that earned him the inaugural Premier League Under-18 Player of the Season award.

United also handed him the Jimmy Murphy Young Player of the Year prize, making him the youngest recipient in the award’s history and breaking the record previously held by Angel Gomes, while a hat-trick against Liverpool and a run to the FA Youth Cup final only added to the growing hype around him.

Michael Carrick has since tried to lower the temperature around the situation, urging caution given Gabriel’s age.

“He’s a young boy, JJ, and I think it’s important that we certainly don’t play anything out here,” Carrick said.

He added, “I think the exposure and the scrutiny and everything, you’ve got to be careful and be sensible and think of him as much as anything.”

Whether United can convince Gabriel’s family that the club’s long-term project still offers a route to the very top remains to be seen, but his own verdict on where United currently stand may prove difficult to shift.