Who is Gabriel Barbosa?

With the transfer window in full flow, Premier League clubs have been busy getting deals done before the August 31 deadline.

Spain, Italy and Germany are all popular leagues for English clubs to search for targets, but what about Brazil and the Rio 2016 Olympics?

For Manchester United and Jose Mourinho it appears so, as they have been keeping a close eye on one of the Games’ biggest names: Brazil’s Gabriel Barbosa.

The 19-year-old has scored twice for his country in Rio to help them to the semi-finals of the men’s competition, attracting United and Premier League champions Leicester among plenty of others this summer.

But who is the young striker nicknamed Gabigol? We take a look…

FACTFILE

Age: 19

Position: Forward

Club: Santos

Nationality: Brazilian

International caps: 4

International goals: 2

Youth career

Gabriel joined Santos’ youth set-up at the age of eight and during eight seasons in the youth leagues he scored over 600 goals, picking up the nickname ‘Gabigol’.

He signed his first professional deal with the Brazilian club in 2012 and it included a £40m release clause, showing how highly rated he was.

At the age of 16 he made his senior debut against Flamengo in what was Neymar’s last game at the club. And in a clever marketing ploy, the youngster dubbed “the new Neymar” played 20 minutes of the match together with Neymar.

Santos

Gabriel has flourished since taking on the task of replacing Neymar. He needed under three months to net his …

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