JJ Gabriel's decision to quit Old Trafford added to Gary Neville's theory that links to former Man Utd star – opinion

Gary Neville made an interesting parallel to the situation that is unfolding around teenager JJ Gabriel at Old Trafford and another former Manchester United player.

Red Devils talent JJ Gabriel has been placed in the spotlight this week beyond his footballing exploits on the pitch for the Manchester United youth academy.

United fans were left reeling about Gabriel after it emerged that the 15-year-old striker had told the Premier League club about his desire to leave Old Trafford.

The Red Devils were left equally stunned by the news and Michael Carrick broke his silence on Gabriel after the Premier League club’s Carabao Cup exit on Wednesday.

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Manchester United have been left scrambling to find a solution to JJ Gabriel’s future before the teenage forward’s contract expires at the end of the season. Reports have speculated that tensions between Gabriel’s family and United have surfaced, including the Red Devils being ‘surprised’ by how the situation has unfolded.

The fallout from the news has seen a 15-year-old dragged into the centre of a problem that has been caused outside of his talents on the pitch at the Premier League club. Gary Neville suggested that Gabriel’s camp took the “nuclear option” by dropping a bombshell decision to have the player leave Old Trafford.

The 51-year-old former Man Utd captain equally felt that Gabriel’s situation at the Red Devils echoed similar shades to Jadon Sancho’s time at Manchester City.

“They’ve decided they want to go with the nuclear option and go basically, ‘Bang, we’re going, JJ Gabriel to leave Man United,’” Neville said on The Overlap’s Stick to Football podcast.

“That, to me, is my concern [which] is that [whoever’s] representing him thinks that’s good for the kid. That is not good for the kid. Do you remember Jadon Sancho left Manchester City back in year, that was the one that I remember?”

Jadon Sancho was only 17 years old when he left the Manchester City academy and made his stunning move to German side Borussia Dortmund in 2017. The former Man City player told FourFourTwo magazine in 2018 that he left the Etihad due to the “opportunities” that “youngsters” like him would receive at Borussia Dortmund.

Sancho admitted to the publication that his move to the Bundesliga came with a “big risk,” but the former United star left City with all the noise surrounding him. The 26-year-old, who left Old Trafford in the summer, had been tipped as one of City’s most promising prospects at that time.

The former Dortmund star did benefit from the fact that his move to Germany paid off in a major way after he shot to stardom for his exploits at the German side. Sancho later made his big-money move to Old Trafford from Dortmund, but his spell at the Premier League club struggled to hit the same heights that he saw at the Westfalenstadion.

“My point is though, I would say from a point of view of duty of care for a 15-year-old, the 15-year-old kid this morning is the back page story of every newspaper in the country,” Neville added.

“How are you looking after that kid? I don’t care whether you think he should be playing or not, because to be fair, if you think he should be playing, great, no problem with that.”

Gabriel’s career could eventually mirror Sancho’s career, both for all the pros and the cons, over how his short- and long-term future is now handled at Man Utd.