He has a reputation of possessing brilliant potential, not just on the word of a team mate or two in the primavera, but our own Mr Sandreani spoke very highly of him, as well as a couple of other notable football people.
Anyone who has followed the team this season, should understand by now that Conte has no leaning towards playing any players who are not match sharp and acclimatized to italian football and the tactics he deploys. Gabriel hasn't played competitively for 6 months, and will need more than a month to get match sharp, start putting his training into practice in competitive matches (Baroni and the other youth team coaches follow Conte's model of the senior team) and improving his italian skills. Conte prefers to play those he knows he can rely upon, rather than those with the most talent on paper alone.
I am glad Gabriel is playing and look forward to seeing the Buoy kid in action alongside him and that monster Chibsah(who looks nearer 35 than 18) in the middle of the park. Those three could mirror, potentially, our own Marchisio/Pirlo/Vidal midfield.