Manchester United legend knows all about breaking into the first team as a teenager. The Welshman earned his senior debut as a 17 year old and would go on to amass 963 appearances for the Red Devils.
During his prime, Giggs tormented the opposition and was one of the best left wingers in the world. His emergence and rise to stardom are a testament to the club’s fabled academy, which has produced several generational talents over the years.
Another exciting youngster ready to break into the senior side is JJ Gabriel, who is already training with the senior side. The 15 year old has a lot of buzz with his performances for the Under-18s and is expected to earn his first-team bow this season.
Giggs recently sat down for a conversation with his former team-mate Rio Ferdinand, during which they discussed the youngster in detail.
Giggs compares Gabriel to Wayne Rooney
On , Ferdinand explained how comfortable and unfazed Gabriel was while training with the first team and doing shooting drills with Bruno Fernandes. Giggs responded: “That sounds like Wayne, doesn’t it? Just give me the ball, give me the ball. You know, just I don’t care who I’m training with.”Wayne Rooney broke into the senior Everton side at just 16 years of age and two years later was picked up by United. The English forward would go on to become the Red Devils’ record goalscorer and an Old Trafford legend.
Wayne Rooney: Stats by Club
When asked to elaborate on what Gabriel needs to do next, Giggs said: “You need to play. You need to play games and it’s difficult because if you’re in squads for the first team, you’re not going to sort of turn that down. But also you need minutes on the pitch.”“But he’s at the best club because the history of young players coming through and how they’re looked after. And he’s got good people around him, obviously, who’ve played at the club, you know, Michael Carrick, Darren Fletcher, Jonny Evans, all these players have been at the club. You know, a couple of them have come through. So he’s at the right club.”
Gabriel has to stay
The conversation proceeded to Gabriel’s future and whether United should send the player out on loan to aid in his development. Giggs, though, was against the idea, adding: “Well, I think he is sort of a generational talent. He’s got to stay.”“There’s no point in going out on loan because he’s at the best place and he’d be dipping in and out of the first team. You know, not only the games and the training, but actually travelling with the team, seeing the expectation of Man United, you’re seeing all sort of, the focus is so huge on Manchester United.”
“You need to get used to that. I think you go on loan when you’re 19, 20, not, you know, the next few years. You expect him to, if he’s going the same way, to be in the first team soon as a regular, not just dipping in and out.”
While the wizard urged patience with Gabriel, he acknowledged that the teenager will get his first-team debut soon, concluding: “Sometimes you have to be patient. Sometimes it gets to a point where you just can’t not pick him and not have him train in the first team.”
“You know, it gets to a stage where sometimes that might be in a month, might be six months, might be a year. It’s that in-between time where he thinks he should be in the first team. He thinks he should be in the squad every week.”
“Well, actually, Michael sees it a different way that actually, no, you need to play games because it’s not really going to do you any good travelling here, there and everywhere and you’re getting five minutes here, ten minutes there. So that experience is invaluable.”
