JJ Gabriel made his Man Utd debut at the age of 15 on Saturday and Leny Yoro believes the teenager has a big future in the game.
Leny Yoro was just 16 when he made his competitive debut for Lille and when he moved to Manchester United for £52million in the summer of 2024, he became the most expensive footballer aged 18 or under in the history of the game. So he is well placed to talk about JJ Gabriel.
The United teenager lit up the Strawberry Arena in Stockholm on Saturday with a lively late cameo in the 2-1 win against Atletico Madrid, making his first senior appearance at the age of 15 as his talent continues to bloom.
Gabriel trained regularly with the first team last season and travelled to Trondheim for last weekend’s win against Rosenborg, but this was his first outing for Michael Carrick’s side and even though it was a pre-season friendly, he still caught the eye.
He scored 26 goals in 26 games in the Under-18 Premier League last season and has attracted interest from Barcelona, with United desperate to keep hold of a forward who looks like a generational talent, and Yoro has been impressed.
“He’s a really good player,” he said. “Still really young, still a lot to learn, a lot to improve. He’s really humble, still working, so I’m happy for him to get his first minutes, so I hope for him it’s going to continue like that.”
As a fellow teenage sensation who made waves early in his career, Yoro knows what the attention on Gabriel is going to be like now and can see similarities in his own journey to the one the United youngster is embarking on.
“I can see myself,” he said. “[I would say] stay humble, just want to work, and this is what we need in the team, even for the young guys.
“They’re all doing really well, and JJ is one of them, so I hope he’s going to learn a lot, continue like that, improve, yeah. But he’s really good, a good player.”
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