Giggs urges patience as 16-year-old Gabriel closes in on Real Madrid exit from United

Ryan Giggs has publicly questioned the decision-making of JJ Gabriel’s representatives after the 16-year-old Manchester United prospect moved closer to a transfer to Real Madrid, subject to FIFA clearance.

Gabriel’s camp submitted a deregistration request to United in September, citing alleged broken promises over first-team opportunities. His representatives had sought a debut against Sabah in the Champions League — a match for which Gabriel was not included in United’s UEFA squad — as well as appearances against Brighton in the Carabao Cup and Bournemouth in the Premier League. United had planned to hand Gabriel his debut against Brighton, a game in which he would have become the youngest player in the club’s history, but the exit request arrived before that fixture took place.

Since then, Gabriel has not reported to United’s Carrington training ground. He has been working with private coaches in Castelldefels, Barcelona, as negotiations over a move to Real Madrid continue.

Giggs, who previously described Gabriel as a “generational talent”, addressed the situation in a conversation with Rio Ferdinand this week, urging patience from those around the teenager.

“So far in his career everything is going fine, why would you disrupt that? You’re on the right track,” Giggs said. “I trained at 15. I didn’t play for the first team until two years later, so you have to have that patience that people just don’t seem to have at the moment.”

The United legend also stressed the gulf between academy football and consistent senior appearances. “That first game, yeah, you might do alright, but you have to do it for 40, 50 games a season. You’re going to get injuries, loss of form, bad results, so you have to be patient.”

Giggs drew a comparison with Arsenal prospect Max Dowman to illustrate his point. “Max Dowman is unbelievable but he’s not playing for Arsenal at the moment. I’m sure he’ll bide his time, I’m sure he’s getting impatient, but he’s not kicking off — he knows in a couple of years’ time he might be the main man for Arsenal.”

Gabriel was handed his pre-season senior debut by Michael Carrick against Atletico Madrid in Stockholm but did not feature in any other friendly during the summer. United were initially hopeful a resolution could be found, but the teenager now appears set to leave the club.