Man United icons' warning for JJ Gabriel including Gary Neville's private dressing room message

Manchester United starlet JJ Gabriel appears to be destined for a great future, but only if he heeds the advice of those who came before him

JJ Gabriel already carries a great deal of pressure on his shoulders despite being just 15 years of age.

Luckily for him, the Manchester United wonderkid is at a club which has developed a plethora of other talents in the past, allowing them to go from academy prospects to genuine world beaters. Gabriel is currently one of the most exciting youngsters at Carrington, having been a revelation for the Under-18s this season despite his tender age.

He has even been called up to train with the first-team by Michael Carrick and his predecessor Ruben Amorim this season. However, the London-born forward will have to stay patient before earning his first minutes under Carrick, given he is ineligible to play Premier League or Premier League 2 football until next season.

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And while there is no doubting his quality, there are certain traits Gabriel still needs to develop and rules he needs to adhere to in order to guarantee his inclusion in the first team, just as the likes of David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Marcus Rashford and Kobbie Mainoo did before him.

The Manchester Evening News now takes a look at some of the lessons some past United greats have shared, which will help the highly-rated teenager reach his true potential and enjoy a stellar career.

Roy Keane

Former United captain Roy Keane previously explained how a player, even one as gifted as Gabriel, cannot be labelled world class unless they manage to play at a consistently high level for many years. Keane lifted almost every trophy there was to win during his time as skipper and will know very well what it takes to be a world class player.

The pundit believes very few of his former team-mates managed to reach those heights due to a lack of consistency - a crucial lesson for Gabriel if he ever hopes to become a world class player himself.

The Irishman used his former team-mate Ryan Giggs as an example, saying: "If I look back now, you’d have to class Giggsy. I always class the world-class players as lads who were doing it for nine, 10, 11 [years] – obviously, Giggsy’s done it for a lot longer. To me, that’s the key to being a really good player: you’ve got to be consistent."

Ryan Giggs

Giggs himself has explained what it takes to make it through the United academy and become a star previously, by recalling his own journey and mindset. The Welshman, who has more Premier League titles than any other player in history, came through the ranks with the famous Class of ‘92, who each went on to become important first-team players.

The winger revealed the key trait that made each of them successful was a fire in their belly to win and to constantly improve. He recalled how he and his young team-mates were so competitive on the training ground that they often played on the edge of what could be deemed acceptable.

"When I was growing up in the youth team literally I would do anything to win a five-a-side game, against my best friends in Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes, we'd be kicking each other and if you lost it would be with you for the rest of the day and this is the day before the game, an eight-minute, nine-minute five-a-side game," Giggs told beIN SPORTS.

"Whereas in my experience now you see players coming off and they've just lost a small-sided game and they're laughing and joking and I'm like 'you've just lost a game'. Even if it doesn't mean anything, it's that winning mentality and doing anything you can to win.

"My youth team coach, Eric Harrison, I can't remember him giving free-kicks. He would just let you get on with it, you don't want injuries but he wanted that will to win and he wanted that feeling you'd take into the Saturday. Maybe that's taken away from the players a little bit now, but you have to find that winning mentality from within somehow. Sir Alex was the master of mind games and psychology."

Gary Neville

Gary Neville has perhaps been the most outspoken about what it takes for an academy youngster to break into the first team at United. The former right-back even created a list of 14 key bits of advice for young players to adhere to, which used to hang in the academy changing room.

Neville’s list was made up of the following commandments:

1. Choose who you follow.

2. Give 100 per cent all the time. You have never arrived at Manchester United so you must maintain a high standard all the time, every day.

3. Always remember why you began to play football — you loved it for its own sake and not as a means to get money, fame, girls, cars etc.

4. Ownership and responsibility — take care of your own affairs thus learning to do things for yourself, and not relying on others to do things for you: bank accounts, passports and so on. Make your own decisions!

5. Analyse and assess your own performance — be your own coach.

6. Have a strong work ethic — work harder than anyone else and you’ll overtake players with far more talent than you have.

7. Give the profession all that you have got, and you’ll have no regrets.

8. You have to have character and personality to play for Manchester United which you can develop over time.

9. Be a risk taker because it is a different kind of leadership.

10. Success and failure are two sides of the same coin, and you have to deal emotionally with both experiences. Remember that if you win or lose you can still have that Chinese on a Saturday night — keep things in perspective.

11. Learn more about yourself and what works for you.

12. Don’t leave anything to chance.

13. There are different routes to reach the top and very few players go ‘route one’ — like Giggs or [Wayne] Rooney. The challenge for you is to find the right pathway because we’re all different.

14. The ability to deal/cope with injuries is vital and should be approached with a strong mentality. See injury as an opportunity to develop body strength, and ‘reset’ your mind (refresh) for the various challenges ahead.

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