JJ Gabriel's signing for Real Madrid is imminent: 'Kid Messi' will wear white

Real Madrid is on the verge of finalizing a deal that has mobilized all the technical departments of Europe's biggest clubs. The arrival at the white club of English talent JJ Gabriel, only 16 years old, is now merely a matter of time . Madrid has moved ahead of the rest of the great continental heavyweights, such as PSG, Bayern, City, Chelsea or Barcelona , which approached the forward's camp after he decided to leave Manchester United .

Gabriel's departure from the Old Trafford club put several of Europe's giants on alert, captivated by the talent of a player who has gone on to break every precocity record in English football . His turbulent exit from United, and the ensuing uproar surrounding the player's entourage, have not diminished Madrid's interest, which from the outset has been very well positioned to finally secure a player of unquestionable talent, an international at every level of England's youth setup and the scorer of a hat-trick on his Youth League debut this very season .

JJ turned 16 on October 6, a key age for unlocking the complex process of leaving United , the club he joined in 2022 after coming through the youth academies of Chelsea, Arsenal and West Ham . At just 11 years old, he was already a viral phenomenon because of his quality on the ball ( capable of doing thousands of kick-ups without letting the ball touch the ground while still just a little kid ), and his development in Manchester has lived up to expectations.

He made his debut for United's Under-18s in 2025, at the age of 14, scoring a brace against Leeds and becoming the youngest player ever to wear that shirt in the club's history. The following campaign he scored 26 goals in 29 matches and was named the Premier League's best Under-18 footballer . Already in this 2026 , he marked his Youth League debut with a hat-trick against Sabah . Rubén Amorim even brought him up to train with the first team, and Michael Carrick gave him his first minutes in a preseason friendly against Atlético de Madrid in Stockholm .

His lack of continuity in the first team has been the main argument used by his father, Joe O"Cearuill , to justify the boy's departure. O"Cearuill was a professional footballer, although a defender, not an attacker like his son, and he has become the great architect of JJ Gabriel's career . From his name change to a more "marketable" one to the signing of a sponsorship deal with Nike , at just 14 years old, considered even more lucrative than the one the American multinational signed at the time with the teenage Neymar.

In addition to his father, the figure of agent Ali Barat , founder of the agency Epic Sports and well known at the Bernabéu after the transfer of Denzel Dumfries to the Whites last summer, has been decisive in JJ Gabriel's career.

With the horizon of his 16th birthday now very close, JJ Gabriel formally requested his departure from United last September . In recent weeks, he has been training with a personal coach in Spain , while waiting for a move to Madrid to be finalized, which is now only pending signature and an official announcement. United will receive a minimal amount in training compensation ( around £300,000 is being mentioned ), but at Old Trafford they are tearing their hair out over the loss of a player whom many predict could potentially be worth more than 100 million euros . For now, his future is with Castilla, but always under the supervision of Mourinho and his staff. The idea is for his transition to the first team to be less turbulent than the one that led to his departure from the "red devils" .