After leaving Manchester United, what’s next for free agent Angel Gomes?

Teenager rejected a new contract at his boyhood club and has been the subject of interest from across Europe – but after becoming United’s youngest debutant since 1953, what changed?

It was, perhaps, the most ambitious debut in Manchester United’s modern history. Sixteen years old, slight and skilful, the star of the club’s academy, Angel Gomes understands how football’s most fickle currency – hype – can flicker. On Monday, almost four years later, the curtain was drawn and goodbyes began after a six-month stalemate between the 19-year-old and his boyhood club.

It has been a fraught saga, with scepticism on both sides, that ultimately led to Gomes passing on an offer of £25,000-per-week that had long accrued dust. While offers elsewhere are admittedly more lucrative, a severe shortage of game time had unsettled the diminutive playmaker, stalling his development and emboldening concerns over a pathway to the starting line-up. He is now a free agent, and The Independent understands that his family and representatives have whittled down numerous approaches to four concrete proposals.

As it happens, Gomes’s last Manchester United appearance came for the U23s; a man-of-the-match performance against Stoke in February. With little movement over his new deal, he had effectively been sidelined by Solskjaer, left out of the matchday squad entirely for United’s FA Cup fourth-round tie against Tranmere Rovers - this year, he has played just 36 minutes of senior football.

Meanwhile, interest from a glitterati of European clubs began to leak into the press.

In January, The Independent understands that Gomes’s father travelled to Spain and Italy for meetings with Barcelona and Inter Milan – the latter also expressing a strong interest in United teammate Tahith Chong. Both clubs were keen to investigate Gomes’s situation but considered the financial aspects of any deal to be “unattractive”.

Chelsea have also long monitored Gomes, who continued to impress with England’s U20s despite a lack of match fitness, but were unable to formally open talks with him during the season. The Independent was told that he did not fit the profile – “proven and experienced” – that the club were pursuing at that stage, with Frank Lampard frustrated after a blank January window. However, with the signings of Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner sealed, and agent Pini Zihavi’s subsequent involvement, Chelsea’s interest has reportedly been piqued again.

A rotating cast of intermediaries has complicated certainty over Gomes’s future. Jorge Mendes, who represents Gomes’s godfather, Nani, has assisted the family in the past and is closely linked to Valencia and Benfica – two clubs who have expressed an interest in Gomes. A separate broker was involved in discussions with Barcelona and Juventus, while Zihavi’s close ties to Chelsea are reputed.

Amid the swirl of uncertainty, Gomes himself has, at times, struggled with a feeling of keeping his head above the water. He has a strong attachment to the club where he first trained as a six-year-old, has inevitably formed close friendships with teammates and coaches, and had rarely been forced to imagine a life away from Old Trafford, even as frustration has grown over a lack of opportunities. He’s believed to have swayed back and forth over a decision, while the coronavirus pandemic raised the uncomfortable – and now proven – possibility that he may never feature for United again.

Manchester United youngster Angel Gomes will leave the club after 13 years (Getty) (Manchester United via Getty Images)

A popular figure within his England age-group, having been one of four designated leaders during the country’s U17 World Cup win, he has seen friends Jadon Sancho and Jonathan Panzo move abroad with varying degrees of success while others such as Callum Hudson-Odoi and Phil Foden committed their futures to their childhood clubs.

Every situation is unique, though. At United, Andreas Perreira was awarded a new contract last summer. In January, Bruno Fernandes arrived to much anticipation while the club continued to pursue a deal for Birmingham teenager Jude Bellingham. By the time false reports circulated last week that Gomes had been offered an improved £30,000-a-week deal, it’s believed he had come to accept that his future lay elsewhere. United had also largely ceded hope – barring any last-minute hesitance on Gomes’s behalf - with the club unwilling to match the other offers being touted. It is an impasse with reluctance and resignation on both sides.

There have been few doubts that Gomes possesses the quality to become an elite player, with the scale of clubs interested a testament to that, but his diminutive stature has been a constant shackle. “Angel is different,” said Nicky Butt, United’s head of first-team development, in February. “He has to get the right niche at the right time. If it all comes together then we’ve got one hell of a player on our hands.”

For better or worse, at United, that window never presented itself – but countless doors remain open.