Summarize and humanize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in EnglishManchester United’s under-18s humiliated Leeds United’s youngsters on Saturday, winning 13-1 as highly rated 14-year-old JJ Gabriel scored twice on his age-level debut.It was a resounding victory for United at Carrington and followed the disappointment of Aston Villa knocking them out of the FA Youth Cup semi-final on Monday night.On Saturday, United were 9-0 up at half-time, with captain Victor Musa netting a first-half double hat-trick and midfielder Jim Thwaites also scoring a hat-trick, including a sumptuous free kick for United’s sixth of the game.Amir Ibragimov, United’s Russian-born 17-year-old who signed his first professional contract with the club last week, was instrumental to their dominance in that first half, laying on chance after chance.
Manchester United’s Ibragimov was a creative force against Leeds Under-18s (Manchester United via Getty Images)After the break, United scored four more goals, with James Bailey and Daniel Armer on the scoresheet, before Gabriel marked a memorable debut for the under-18s with two late goals.Gabriel is regarded as one of the most exciting prospects in United’s academy.Last season, he was invited to warm up with the under-18s before their Premier League Cup final victory against Manchester City.This campaign, he was included in the travelling group for the FA Youth Cup quarter-final and semi-final ties at Arsenal and Villa, and warmed up with the squad, even though he was too young to feature (players have to be at least 15).United are desperate to keep hold of Gabriel, who mostly plays left-sided forward, but will be aware he’s at the age when players can leave academies, so are trying to show him a clear pathway and demonstrate why they are the best place for his development. His performances have alerted Europe’s biggest clubs.Gabriel recently made his debut for England Under-15s against Turkey, who they beat 3-0 at St George’s Park in February, while he picked up the most valuable player award for United’s under-16s during their pre-season tour to Hong Kong in the summer, which was presented to him by Dimitar Berbatov, the club’s former striker.Gabriel, whose full name is Joseph Junior Andreou Gabriel, was born in London and is the son of former Republic of Ireland defender Joe O’Cearuill, who spent most of his career playing non-League after starting out at Watford and Arsenal.Coming to prominence under the name ‘Kid Messi’ on YouTube five years ago, JJ Gabriel signed a lucrative deal with Nike in February. On his Instagram, he wrote to his 118,000 followers: “Pleased to announce that I have signed a long-term contract with Nike. Looking forward to the future with the brand that I have been with since (I was) 11 years old.”During his time in United’s academy, he also grew close to Cristiano Ronaldo Jr, with a photo of the pair together on his Instagram page, when they signed as under-11s in February 2022. Ronaldo Jr is now with the Al Nassr Academy, where his father currently plays, in Saudi Arabia.
Speaking last week when asked about younger talent playing further up, United head of academy Nick Cox told journalists, including The Athletic: “We’ve got a lot of high potential players and kids in the programme who love the game.“Part of my job is to keep kids grounded and out of the spotlight because that can derail young people’s opportunity to go and excel. I won’t talk about individuals, I’ll happily talk about a principle. I’m a big believer that what you want to do is show them environments they’re not quite ready for to stretch and challenge them, so they can then come back to their comfort zone and practise and learn and eventually go back again. That difficult thing becomes easy and you can move onto the next difficult thing. You want to help players see as many different experiences as possible so they are building and equipping themselves for what comes in the future.”As for captain Musa, the pick of his six goals was his fourth, a wonderful whipped shot with his left after a driving run.The Spanish-born forward was sidelined for much of last year through injury, but returned in September, and now has 11 goals in 14 matches in this season’s Under-18s Premier League.He has also made three appearances for United’s under-21s in the Premier League 2 this season and played every game in the under-18s’ FA Youth Cup run apart from Monday’s semi final against Villa, when he was dropped for the returning Chido Obi, who has already featured for United’s first team this season.Thwaites, a talented, stylish midfielder, also netted a hat-trick yesterday.A set-piece specialist, he scored from a free kick against Leeds as he bounced back from the heartbreak of missing a penalty in the shootout against Villa.United’s victory yesterday over rock-bottom Leeds means they are five points behind Manchester City, but with a game in hand, keeping them firmly in the title race.(Top photo: Victor Musa in action for Manchester United’s under 18s; Manchester United via Getty Images)
