Why Man Utd have changed young star's position amid Messi comparisons

14-year-old JJ Gabriel scored a hat-trick for the Man Utd U18s (Photo: Getty)

Highly-rated Manchester United academy star JJ Gabriel is training in a new position as Ruben Amorim prepares to promote him to the first-team.

He may only be 14, but Gabriel has already been touted as the future of United following his goalscoring heroics at youth level.

In April, the teenager was fast-tracked to the club’s Under-18 side and on his debut came off the bench to score twice in a 13-1 demolition of Leeds United .

The forward has earned the nickname ‘Kid Messi’, while Marcus Rashford, who trained with Gabriel at Carrington during his first-team exile last season, labelled him a ‘future star’ .

Gabriel has kept up the good work, bagging a 22-minute hat-trick during the 4-0 win over Derby County last weekend, to make it eight goals in six U18s games.

But curiously, coach Darren Fletcher deployed Gabriel as a false-nine against the Rams, instead of his usual left-wing role.

According to the Daily Mail , the positional change has been made in an attempt to ‘further elevate his game by getting him closer to goal’.

Gabriel has been nicknamed ‘Kid Messi’ (Photo: Getty)

Moreover, it is said that those within United believe that Gabriel will be a regular in first-team training before the season is out, suggesting Amorim is getting him adjusted to his tactics in advance.

Amorim is determined to make his 3-4-3 formation work at Old Trafford, with traditional wingers like who don’t fit the system, like Antony and Alejandro Garnacho, cast aside.

With Rashford and Rasmus Hojlund loaned out, United’s only centre-forward options are summer signing Benjamin Sesko and 17-year-old Chido Obi-Martin.

Ruben Amorim is readying Gabriel for first-team training (Photo: Getty)

Matheus Cunha, Joshua Zirkzee and Bryan Mbeumo can play there as well but will more often operate in one of the No.10 roles, so there is every chance Gabriel will get an opportunity at senior level in the near-future.

He may be very young but Mikel Arteta recently gave 15-year-old Arsenal academy star Max Dowman his first-team debut , making him the second-youngest Premier League player ever behind only fellow Gunner Ethan Nwaneri, so it is within the realms of possibility.

‘It’s important we let them develop,’ Fletcher recently said when speaking about the club’s up and coming stars like Gabriel and Kai Rooney, son of United and England legend Wayne Rooney.

‘They’ve got loads of development to do, but they’re sponges. They want to learn. They’re young boys who just enjoy football. They take on the information, we’re trying to give them a platform on which to express themselves.

‘We don’t want to hold anybody back. If you’re performing, you’re going to get rewards for it. They’ve played because they deserve it, and they’ve shown they can compete and fight at this level.’