JJ Gabriel has revealed that he would rather join Real Madrid than Barcelona. The Manchester United prospect has arrived in the Spanish capital as he prepares for his next move, with Madrid working on a deal to sign him.
Marca caught up with the 16-year-old English forward in Madrid, where he is training on his own. Gabriel stepped away from United’s training sessions at Carrington and spent a short spell training in Barcelona before heading to the capital.
“Madrid, of course,” Gabriel replied when asked to choose between Real Madrid and Barcelona. He was just as direct when asked about his ambitions in football. “My dream is to win the Ballon d’Or.”
Gabriel asked United to cancel his registration in September, weeks before his 16th birthday. His desire to leave attracted interest from Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain before Real Madrid moved to the front of the race.
According to Sky Sports, Madrid have reached a verbal agreement with Gabriel and are targeting a January move. He remains registered with United’s academy until the end of the season, and the two clubs had yet to hold direct talks when the report was published.
Marca reports that Gabriel’s agent, Ali Barat, is working to finalise the contract details and arrange accommodation in Madrid for the player and his family. The plan is for Gabriel to start with Castilla, Real Madrid’s reserve side, where Vinícius Júnior and Federico Valverde both played before establishing themselves in the first team.
Interest in Gabriel followed a season in which he scored 23 goals in the Under-18 Premier League and, at 15, became the youngest winner of Manchester United’s Jimmy Murphy Young Player of the Year award.
Gabriel has also played for United’s Under-21s, scoring against Leicester City, and earned an England Under-17 call-up. According to Sky Sports, the prospect of a clearer path to first-team football was one of the reasons he favoured a move to Madrid.
