Who is Gabriele Biancheri? Diving into why Jesse Marsch called up the Man United youngster as CanMNT training player
With the 2026 World Cup rapidly approaching, Jesse Marsch’s quest to add more dual nationals to the CanMNT fold continues to heat up.
Almost one year away from co-hosting the tournament, Marsch has continued to widen his pool of players he can pick from, as he’s still uncovering potential new faces who can represent this Canadian team.
Having already secured the commitment of players like Jamie Knight-Lebel, Niko Sigur, Tani Oluwaseyi, Promise David and Daniel Jebbison, he wants to keep adding to that list, as more and more names emerge with potential Canadian ties.
Now, the next name to keep an eye out for is Gabriele Biancheri, an 18-year-old forward born in Wales, who Marsch has called up to his latest Canadian Men’s National Team squad as a training player.
A youngster currently developing in Manchester United’s academy after growing up in Cardiff City's system, he’s coming off an impressive campaign for United's U18 team, scoring 10 goals and adding one assist in 12 games in the U18 Premier League. As a result, he also earned minutes with their U21s in the Premier League 2, scoring five goals and adding two assists in 11 games.
Along with three goals and three assists from the FA Youth Cup, and three goals in the UEFA Youth League, it’s been a good run from Biancheri, who only turned 18 last September. 
Certainly, his performances have turned heads within Manchester United, as he’s earned several opportunities to train with their first team, even if he’s still waiting to make his debut.
👀🏴 Gabriele Biancheri (18) involved in first team training today!
— Stretford Paddock (@StretfordPaddck) April 16, 2025
The striker has 20 goals in 30 appearances across all competitions for United's U18s and U21s this season ⚽️#MUFC pic.twitter.com/rOO0FSQsau
Given that current United boss Ruben Amorim has promoted 17-year-old forward Chido Obi to the first team this year after strong performances for their U21 and U18 teams, the door could be open for Biancheri to earn a similar opportunity in 2025-2026, however.
Because of that, it feels clear to see that Biancheri is a high-potential player, one worth keeping an eye on, as he could be on the cusp of a big breakout over the next few years.
Gabriele Biancheri’s backheel goal in Manchester United u18s 4-4 draw with Everton u18s#MUFC #MUAcademy
— UnitedAnalyst (@UnitedAnalyst7) April 28, 2025
pic.twitter.com/NYG5cazJsC
Data is understandably limited at his level, but in the four games that had stat tracking in the Premier League 2 this year, Biancheri scored two goals for United’s U21s, generating an average of 0.57 xG on 1.85 shots per 90, while also making 4.76 touches in the box, showing that he can be a dangerous poacher who gets into good positions around goal.
Most impressively, despite playing with players much older than him, he completed 85.2% of his passes, suggesting that he can hold up the ball quite well, which is something that young strikers can struggle with.
"He's a dynamic player, he's very good around the goal," Marsch said of Biancheri. "He's technically gifted. You can see he's an intelligent player, he's a version of Jonathan David. He's not exactly the same player, but he's a striker who can play up on the backline, but he's also good at coming underneath and connecting plays and being part of the build-up phase."
Of course, it’s one thing to do that in a developmental league - the next big step will be for him to do that with United’s first team, but there are certainly lots of things to be encouraged about as he battles to make that a reality.
Because of that, it feels like a big summer awaits him. Given what he’s shown this year, it feels like a no-brainer that he’s included in United’s preseason squad, where he can perhaps earn those first minutes with the senior team.
From there, depending on how that goes, he’ll likely be expected to truly take a big step forward with the U21s, which could open the door for more first-team calls throughout the year. For all of United’s struggles in the past few years, they’ve done a good job of promoting deserving talents from within, such as Obi, Kobbie Mainoo, Toby Collyer and others this year alone, so there’s room for Biancheri to progress up the ranks.
Otherwise, if the route towards minutes is truly blocked, there could be an opportunity for him to go out on loan, which could be something to watch out for, as it’s always fascinating to see top prospects head to clubs in the EFL pyramid to test themselves against full-blown professionals.
Given all that, however, what that does show is that no matter what 2025-2026 looks like for him, with there being no bad option given that he’s still so young, this bright 2024-2025 has done enough to shake up what his international future could look like.
Certainly, Wales have been keeping tabs on him - after representing them at several youth levels, they even called him into an extended senior team training camp earlier this month, showing that they’re already potentially thinking of a senior call-up.
Having scored nine goals in 11 appearances for Wales U19s in Euro qualifiers and friendlies, after scoring two goals in 12 appearances for their U17s, he’s already quite familiar with their program, too, and has performed well for them.
Gabriele Biancheri’s goal to put Cymru ahead against Scotland in #U19EURO qualifying 👊🏴 pic.twitter.com/9eIAQ8Z49x
— welshfootie (@welshfootie) November 13, 2024
Also eligible to play for Italy and England, competition for him will be strong because of all that, as it’ll come down to where he feels most comfortable and the strongest connection.
"He has several options to think about in what country he wants to represent," Marsch said. "I always say to a lot of the dual nationals that I'm talking to that the best way for them to feel how great it is to be around this team is to actually be around the team, because the guys are great, and the environment is really strong and open."
"I know that once they come in and work with the guys and see the mentality of the overall group, they're always going to enjoy it, so we're excited to have him. He's still young. He's still planning to join Wales U21s as well, but I think it'll be really good for him to spend some time with us to see his connection with Canada."
Now, however, Canada is an interesting fourth option, one that many didn’t see coming. Eligible through his mother, who was born in the country, it makes it interesting to see that Marsch has already extended him the invitation to be part of the group as a training player.
Given that Canada can offer minutes at a home World Cup, which is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for players, that has proven to be influential enough for several of the aforementioned dual nationals to make the switch, and for good reason.
Of course, as Marsch continues to stress, he wants players who are committed to the Canadian program for the right reasons, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t also looking to take advantage of certain opportunities that he can offer that others might not be able to.
There’s a reason why the program has climbed to 30th in the FIFA Rankings under his guidance, their highest-ever ranking, and they have eyes on cracking the top 20 over the next 18 months. Armed with a deeper talent pool than ever, led by some world-class players, this team has the potential to make some noise at next summer’s World Cup and beyond, and Marsch’s guidance has been a key spark in that.
For youngsters like Biancheri, that future could prove to be tantalizing, so look for him to make the most of this training opportunity as he weighs his international future.
