JJ Gabriel in action for Manchester United in Premier League 2 this month [Getty Images]
Before what was intended to be a historic night at Old Trafford, Manchester United are still digesting the reality that JJ Gabriel wants to leave.
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The club have been left reeling at the sudden downturn in relations.
Only a week ago Gabriel scored a hat-trick on his Uefa Youth League debut at Leigh that seemed to be the prelude to becoming United's youngest player in history by making his debut against Brighton in the Carabao Cup third round on Wednesday.
Now United are scrambling. Chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox are involved in talks they hope will result in their 15-year-old reversing his plan and choosing to stay.
It feels like a forlorn task.
A belief that promises have been broken and a certainty over Gabriel's current abilities and eventual destiny mean trust is low.
Real Madrid, Barcelona and Paris St-Germain are among the European heavyweight clubs monitoring the situation.
So what happens next?
Where could he go?
Gabriel's potential is well known.
All England's leading clubs have seen it first hand given he was named Under-18 Premier League player of the year last season, even though he was only 14 when the campaign began.
He scored 23 goals in the Premier League Under-18 competition and three in the FA Youth Cup. He was the star man in a United side that reached the Premier League Under-18 cup final and the FA Youth Cup final. He was the Premier League Under-18 Player of the Year and United's Under-18 Player of the Year.
The achievements and accolades were in recognition of a player who has balance, pace, close control and a powerful shot. This season he has shown a willingness to get stuck in to try and win the ball back.
"The best 15-year-old in Europe," was how the forward was described by one United source recently.
United Under-21s coach Adam Lawrence made a salient point in the aftermath of that Uefa Youth League victory over Sabah FK.
"The first thing in my job is not to ruin him," said Lawrence. "When you have a talented player like JJ, you obviously don't want to stifle their freedom and their creativity."
Talent like that grabs attention and is not confined to these shores. Real, Barcelona and PSG focus on elite youth players. That is what is happening here.
Can United make him stay?
This is where is gets tricky.
United's initial response to the publicity around Gabriel's future was to say privately that they would try to persuade him his future was best served staying where he is.
They also advised that Gabriel's registration with them runs until the end of the season.
That may well buy them time when it comes to potential moves to Premier League rivals. But what about European giants?
Gabriel has a European Union passport. His mother is of Greek-Cypriot heritage and his father won two caps for the Republic of Ireland.
In 2016 the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected an appeal by Argentine club Velez Sarsfield - who tried to block one of their 16-year-old players moving to Manchester City - on the basis he was a dual Argentine-Italian national and, as an EU national, should be allowed to transfer to a club within the European Union even though he was coming in from an external country.
West Brom received no compensation when a 16-year-old Louie Barry left for Barcelona in 2019 as Fifa ruled that West Brom failed to formally offer him a scholarship.
West Brom had claimed 130,000 euros (£111,000) in training compensation. Barry left Barca for Aston Villa for just under £1m six months later.
The worst-case scenario for United is Gabriel walks away when he turns 16 on 6 October and they end up with no compensation for a player whose market value, even at this tender age and with so much promise unfulfilled, can be measured in millions.
Gabriel made his senior United debut against Atletico Madrid last month [Getty Images]
What happens now?
In the past 24 hours there has been a backlash against Gabriel and his family, for the direction he is taking and around his professionalism and attitude.
Sources close to the player believe this is massively unfair and overlooks the dedication and commitment which means he is so well-regarded by so many clubs.
In addition, he is not the first young player to have a difference of opinion over their future direction with their club.
Jadon Sancho was 17 when he stopped training at City to force through a £10m move to Borussia Dortmund in the belief that he would play more often in Germany than under Pep Guardiola.
Morgan Rogers was Barry's team-mate in the West Brom side that reached the FA Youth Cup semi-final in 2019. Within three months he had left for City, a move completed on his 17th birthday.
Sources feel that, in meetings with the United hierarchy that led to Gabriel committing his short-term future to the club last summer, promises were made over his career path that have not been kept.
He did start to appear in senior training sessions, initially under Ruben Amorim and then Michael Carrick, but speculation around a senior debut last season, which could only be in the FA Cup, was doused by Under-18s coach Darren Fletcher, who had by now taken the senior team manager's role on an interim basis following Amorim's dismissal. Fletcher felt it was too early for Gabriel.
It had been anticipated that Gabriel would feature during United's pre-season programme.
His absence from the trip to Helsinki for a meeting with Wrexham on 18 July was put down to the date he returned for pre-season training.
He was part of every squad after that, but played only once, for eight minutes against Atletico Madrid in Stockholm.
Did that lack of action sow the seeds of discontent? Gabriel travelled to Trondheim for a meeting with Rosenborg on 24 July. Carrick used 11 substitutes that day. Gabriel was one of two United players who did not come on. Five of those who did have left, either permanently or on loan.
It was noted that 18-year-old Tynan Thompson was given a 45-minute senior debut against Leeds United at Croke Park - another game Gabriel travelled to but was not involved in - three weeks after his arrival from Tottenham.
Nevertheless, it was felt Gabriel was likely to become United's youngest player this autumn - probably in the EFL Cup.
While the third-round draw delivered an Old Trafford rematch with Brighton, United's Champions League schedule opened up another avenue.
It is conceivable that Azerbaijani champions Sabah could be the least difficult home game Carrick's side have this season.
United were 3-0 up at half-time and Carrick had used all five substitutes by the 72th minute.
But Gabriel was not among them. As with Max Dowman at Arsenal last season, Uefa's registration rules meant that, because he was 15, Gabriel could only feature if he was named on United's A list of players.
It is not entirely clear why that did not happen. United named a maximum of 25 players, but among them was midfielder Manuel Ugarte, who will not play until after the registration window opens again in January because of a knee injury. Thompson was also on the list.
United coaches have previously suggested that Gabriel is not yet at the physical level required to be a senior player. Sources close to the player reject this.
Instead, they see how Arsenal gave Dowman his chance at 15 and Bayern Munich gave Lennart Karl his debut at 17, and wonder why United are not doing the same.
Gabriel's name is on the back of United's programme for the EFL Cup third-round tie with Brighton [BBC Sport]
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