Who is JJ Gabriel's dad? Former Arsenal defender key to Manchester United transfer saga

It’s understood that Man Utd believe they can convince the wonderkid to stay and are able to challenge the request as Premier League rules state all parties - the club, player and their parent or carer - must agree to the cancellation for it to be valid.

Interestingly, Gabriel’s father - Joe O'Cearuill - has been the talk of social media since the news broke as reports claim he has played a huge part in his son’s career to date.

O'Cearuill is a big supporter of Gabriel, particularly on X - formerly Twitter - regularly posting videos of his goals and clips from behind-closed-doors training sessions and games.

Though, as per the Manchester Evening News, sources claim O'Cearuill can be difficult to deal with.

Who is Joe O'Cearuill?

Joe O'Cearuill is the father of JJ Gabriel, whose birth name is Joseph Junior Andreou O'Cearuill.

According to reports, the reason behind Gabriel’s name change was to make the teenager more “marketable”, with the youngster tipped for big things.

O'Cearuill, himself is a former footballer with a career that spanned 12 years, starting out at youth level with Leyton Orient and Watford, before joining Arsenal in the summer of 2006.

While, O'Cearuill was named on the bench for the Gunners’ League Cup third round tie away at West Brom in September that year, he was loaned out to Brighton before joining Barnet permanently the following summer.

Joe O'Cearuill in action for Brighton against West Ham in the FA Cup

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From there, the former defender went on to represent 11 different clubs across the lower leagues in English football and St. Patricks Athletic in the League of Ireland, before retiring in 2016 after a third spell with Haringey.

O'Cearuill was also a Republic of Ireland international, having won two senior caps in May 2007, three years before his son was born, against Ecuador and Bolivia.