The 28-year-old was one of the most obvious talents in Manchester United’s academy but struggled with problems outside the pitch
Ravel Morrison has admitted he used to steal Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney boots from the dressing room at Manchester United’s training ground to sell and put food on his family.
The 28-year-old was one of the brightest young stars in United’s renowned academy system and was regarded by Sir Alex Ferguson as the best teenager he has ever seen. However, with issues outside the pitch his time at Old Trafford saw his cut short before he realized his potential.
Morrison spoke about his problems away from football on the Rio Ferdinand Five podcast explaining how he would mix with the wrong crowd and that it would be too late for training to get him in trouble.
What was said?
Morrison told Ferdinand: “I was definitely on a school salary, I was young.
“You used to get like £ 250 for a pair of boots. You bring two pairs of boots, get £ 500 and go home and buy Chinese or something for your family.
“You used to be like 30 pairs of shoes. I didn’t mean it would do so much harm except when I saw your own or [Wayne] Rooney delivery, you would get 20-30 pairs at a time, I thought one pair would put some food on the table at home, I didn’t think it would be a big problem but obviously now I know. “
What was Ferguson thinking?
Ferguson had a great respect for Morrison and gave him his first try, and Ferdinand asked him for five words to describe a midfielder.
The former Manchester United boss said: “My first lasting impression of Ravel as a young boy is that he always had the time and space, always available to be on the ball, so unusual for a young boy. the age.
“Another thing about Ravel that I always fund, because no other young player has ever done it, after the first game for the first team he played, the next morning he came to my office and gave me a letter thanking me for giving it his first visit. I was caught with it. The boy had a good heart, he was beaten with the back. “
When did Morrison make his Manchester United debut?
He came off the bench in a 3-2 League Cup win against Wolves in October 2010. In total, he made three appearances for United and all came in the League Cup and off the bench. .
Where did he go after Manchester United?
In January 2012 he was sold to West Ham and, at the start of the 2012-13 season, was loaned to Birmingham City. He returned to the Hammers but was re-loaned halfway through the 2013-14 season to Queens Park Rangers. At the start of the 2014-15 season, he was loaned to Cardiff until the end of the season and, after not securing a new contract with West Ham, was without a club in 2015.
In the summer of 2015 he joined Lazio as a free agent and was loaned to QPR in the January 2017 window where he remained until the end of the season. A loan spell at Atlas on the Mexican side then overturned on the Swedish side Ostersunds before his free transfer to Sheffield United in 2019.
He was loaned to Middlesbrough for the second half of the 2019-20 season before moving to ADO Den Haag on a free transfer in September last year. He left the Dutch club with each other’s leave in January this year, having played just five games.