Youth star JJ Gabriel asks to leave Manchester United

The forward has been tipped as a future star and spent time training with Michael Carrick’s side before making his first senior appearance off the bench in August’s friendly against Atletico Madrid.

United had planned to include Gabriel in the squad for the first time in a competitive match in Wednesday’s Carabao Cup tie against Brighton, putting him in line to become the club’s youngest ever player.

But the Red Devils have been rocked by a request from Gabriel’s camp to leave, raising huge doubts over his Old Trafford future.

There is hope within the club that the situation can be rectified given his deal with United runs until the summer and he cannot be deregistered.

It is unclear what triggered the situation, but the news is an unwanted distraction and comes less than a week after his hat-trick heroics on his UEFA Youth League debut against Sabah.

Speaking after that 5-0 win, Adam Lawrence, who coached the team in his role as United’s professional development phase lead, said: “JJ is surrounded by people that really, really believe in him from the top of the club right the way through.

“He’s been at the club for so long. He’s got real good relationships with the players, with the staff, so I think over the course of time obviously that helps as well.

“At the moment, just in terms of his game, his games programme, his training programme, it’s about making sure that he’s getting the right exposure across different levels.

“We’re obviously not perfect but it’s definitely something we put a lot of thought into, so it’s good to see him enjoying his football in a good place.”

Gabriel does not turn 16 until October and has already amassed 844,000 followers on Instagram. The account was recently wiped of all posts.

The forward last season became the youngest-ever winner of the club’s Jimmy Murphy Young Player of the Year award.