Manchester United will be devastated to lose JJ Gabriel to Real Madrid, Paul Merson has said. This comes after the 16-year-old reached a verbal agreement to join the Spanish giant in January.
Admitting that the rules allowing the teenager to move abroad must be changed, Merson stated that MUFC would be extremely gutted to see one of Europe’s brightest young talents leave Old Trafford.
Paul added that football academies that put in a lot of hard work into youngsters deserve to be protected from exploitable laws.
His words, “This kid’s a good player. He’s a very good player.
He could have been a superstar so Manchester United will be gutted. I think this rule’s got to change. I think it’s because his mum and dad have got an Irish passport that he’s allowed to go abroad. And I think that needs to change.
Manchester United have worked on this kid, made him the player he is. Obviously, he’d have been gifted at the same time.
Don’t get me wrong, but this needs to be done. The thing is, he’s going to Real Madrid. I said Manchester United are one of the biggest clubs in the world. He’s going to the biggest club in the world. The biggest club. So it’s not like there’s not a player in the world who wouldn’t go to Real Madrid.
You ask any player who’s playing in the Premier League, everybody, if Real Madrid come for you, it’s very rare you turn Real Madrid down. So, great opportunity for the kid, but I still think that rule might have to change. Otherwise, this ain’t, this is not the first time it’s going to happen.
You got to remember, look at Rio Ngumoha, who’s at Liverpool. He was at Chelsea two years ago he left Chelsea. So it happens. It happens. It will happen all the time. But I think that rule’s got to change, in my opinion. Just give these academies a chance where they’re putting a lot of hard work just for someone to go, I’m leaving now.”
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