Ryan Giggs talks up Man Utd youngster dubbed Ronaldo 2.0 who he insists club must keep at all costs

Manchester United record appearance holder Ryan Giggs believes 15-year-old academy prospect JJ Gabriel should be regarded as a ‘generational talent’ by the Red Devils and must be retained at all costs, with Old Trafford the “best place” for his development.

The youngster, who turns 16 in just under a month, could become United’s youngest ever player, breaking the record of David Gaskell, who made his debut at 16 years and 19 days old.

He made his first-team debut in a 2-1 win against Atletico Madrid in pre-season and is expected to make his first senior competitive appearance at some point this season.

Dubbed the next Cristiano Ronaldo by scouts, he has recently been promoted to the Under-21 squad, having scored 26 goals in 29 games for the Under-18s last season.

And he has started the season brightly, picking up two goals and two assists in as many games to start the Premier League 2 campaign.

The London-born teenager has started to attract interest due to his level of output, though, which has moved Giggs to plead for his commitment to Manchester United.

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Giggs believes United is the best place for JJ Gabriel

Speaking on Rio Ferdinand’s YouTube channel, Giggs insisted that Gabriel shouldn’t be loaned out, with United being the ‘best club’ for him so he can learn the values and expectations of a huge club.

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 of 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, 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.”

When asked if he should be loaned out to maximise his development, Giggs responded: “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, so that experience is invaluable.

“Not only the games and the training, but actually travelling with the team, seeing the expectation of Man United; 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.

He continued: “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.

“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.

United will want to be careful with their rising star, though, as interest from other clubs has already become apparent, with Chelsea sniffing around the starlet just last month.