Angel Gomes

Manchester United

2006–17: Early years

Gomes started training with the Manchester United youth system at the age of six, in 2006, and made his debut for the club's U18 team when he was 14. He captained the Manchester United U15 team in 2015 at the Manchester United Premier Cup and was named MVP, despite United finishing in 12th place at the tournament. After signing as an academy first-year scholar ahead of the 2016–17 season, Gomes scored three goals against Everton on 27 August 2016, and became the third youngest Manchester United academy player to achieve the feat in the club's history at the age of 15 years and 362 days. He then sustained an injury in April 2017 towards the conclusion of the season. Despite this, he finished as the club's top goalscorer and was named Jimmy Murphy Young Player of the Year as the youngest recipient for the award. His form led him to train with the first-team ahead of the final game in the 2016–17 season of the Premier League.

2017–20: First-team appearances and departure

Gomes made his first-team debut on 21 May 2017, replacing Wayne Rooney in the 88th minute of a 2–0 home victory over Crystal Palace. At 16 years, 263 days old, he became the youngest player to represent Manchester United since Duncan Edwards in 1953, as well as the first player born in the 2000s to appear in the Premier League. On 13 December 2017, Gomes signed his first professional contract with Manchester United, and on 26 January 2018,…

Youth

In addition to his native England, Gomes was also eligible to represent Angola and Portugal. He eventually chose to represent his country of birth at youth international level and played for every England youth team. In August 2015, Gomes began his international career when he made two appearances for England at under-16 level, both against the United States. He then captained the U16 team, making nine appearances and scoring two goals in total at this level. The following year, he was called up to the England under-17 team in August 2016, and scored four minutes into his debut while captaining his nation to a 3–1 victory over Belgium. A year later, he played in the 2017 UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualification but missed out on the tournament in May due to injury. Five months later, he played and scored in the England's opening game of the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup and ultimately led the team to their first title, being one of the team captains. Gomes made a total of 13 appearances and scored six goals at U17 level with his country. A few weeks earlier, he made his debut at under-18 level when he captained England in a 0–0 draw with Brazil on 1 September 2017. He then quickly moved to the next level and scored one goal in six appearances for the England under-19 team. Gomes made his England under-20 debut during a 0–0 draw against the Netherlands on 5 September 2019. He made six appearances in total for the under-20 team and scored two goals. In 2021,…

A footballer described as versatile, Gomes is capable of playing in all midfield positions whereas he preferred to be deployed as an attacking midfielder behind the forward. His playing style has been compared to that of Ronaldinho due to his creativity, composure and dribbling. In January 2015, Nani described Gomes as Manchester United's next star. Manchester United graduate Danny Webber said: "Gomes is still very small, but he sees the game seconds before others. Angel is like Paul Scholes; he can dictate a game with his intelligence." After having mostly played as a left midfielder and even as a centre-forward for his first season in France, his Lille manager Paulo Fonseca started to deploy him as a central midfielder in a position where he is in charge of recovering the ball and directing the play. When asked about his style of play after his first England senior team call-up, Gomes then stated: "I would like to say I am just a midfielder. I can operate in all three roles: I can play as the deep-lying midfielder, I can play as a No 8, I can play as a No 10. I just love to play in the midfield and be able to distribute and help the team play in all different areas of the pitch. I am confident. I like keeping the ball, I like taking responsibility." In an interview for Lille website in September 2022, Gomes cited Spanish midfielders Andrés Iniesta and Xavi along with Bernardo Silva and Marco Verratti as inspirations, and emphasised their vision and skill despite a lack of…

Adilson Angel Abreu de Almeida Gomes was born on (2000-08-31)31 August 2000 in Edmonton, Greater London, England to the Angolan-born former Portugal under-21 international Gil Gomes during his father's time at Hendon. The Gomes family then moved to the Manchester area when Gil joined Middlewich Town, and settled in Salford, where Gomes grew up. Former Portugal international and Manchester United winger Nani is Gomes' godfather, and he has said that Nani's influence was "massive" as he was somebody he idolised as a youngster.