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Ryan Giggs sends Max Dowman message to JJ Gabriel over Man Utd exit
Nov 05 2026 22:48 · By Chris Davie · 7 Reads
JJ Gabriel is closing in on a move to Real Madrid (Getty)
Ryan Giggs has urged JJ Gabriel to reconsider his decision to leave Manchester United and believes the 16-year-old should follow Max Dowman’s pathway at Arsenal.
Gabriel, who turned 16 last month, informed United of his desire to leave Old Trafford in September and has not trained with the club since then.
The young forward has attracted interest from several clubs across Europe, however, he has now reached a verbal agreement to join Real Madrid.
Gabriel’s entourage are understood to have been unhappy with his first-team integration at United and wanted him to feature in a Champions League fixture against Sabah FK, as well as in a Carabao Cup tie against Brighton in September.
Giggs, meanwhile, also began his career as a highly rated young prospect in United’s academy but did not make his first-team debut until the age of 17 under Sir Alex Ferguson.
The 52-year-old went on to become the most decorated player in English football history as he won 34 trophies during his 24-year career with United.
Max Dowman has made 18 appearances for Arsenal since making his first-team debut at 15 years and 235 days old in August 2025 (Reuters)
When asked about Gabriel’s situation in a conversation with Rio Ferdinand, Giggs stressed the importance of patience and believes Dowman, who was handed his Arsenal debut at 15 years and 235 days old in August 2025, is going through the correct development process under Mikel Arteta.
‘So far in his career everything is going fine, why would you disrupt that? You’re on the right track,’ Giggs said of Gabriel.
‘I trained at 15, I didn’t play for the first team until two years later so you have to have that patience that people just don’t seem to have at the moment.
‘And believe it or not, first-team football for Man United is completely different to playing in the youth team, playing pre-season for the first team, it’s completely different. That first game, yeah, you might do alright, but you have to do it for 40, 50 games a season. You’re going to get injuries, loss of form, bad results, so you have to be patient.