Scouting Network: Ravel Morrison
Scouting Network identifies young players under the age of 21 who have exceptional talent and could be one of the leading players of the future. This month GoaldenTimes profiles Ravel Morrison
Date of Birth: February 02, 1993
Place of Birth: Wythenshawe,
Manchester, England
Club: West Ham United
Height: 175 cm
Weight: 71 kg
Position: Midfield
Nationality: England
Market Value: £650,000
Ravel Morrison is a young lad, highly rated by people who have watched him closely during his limited appearances for Manchester United. Although he is yet to set the stage on fire, Ravel Morrison has surely set the newspapers ablaze – not so much the back page, but certainly ‘Page 3’. Speed, vision, flair, control, strong physicality, goal scoring knack – he has ’em all and some more – not to mention his constant off-the-field issues. He is the latest ’bad boy’ of English football – anybody remembers Gazza? Morrison may be a notch above his predecessors having already received a 12-month referral order for witness intimidation and serving a police caution for assaulting his mother. Mind you, he is but a teenager!
Amidst all this, he had signed as a first-year scholar with his club in 2009 and turned professional the next year, on his 17th birthday. Sir Alex Ferguson seemed to have a gem at his disposal as Morrison put in a string of strong performances across age groups for England U16, U17 and U18s. He is a complete midfielder who has been at his best in the wide left position. He made his first senior appearance later that year in the League Cup win over Wolverhampton Wanderers, coming on as a substitute. Morrison though made his mark in the FA Youth Cup 2010-11. After lighting up the field in the previous rounds and scoring a few, Morrison scored the opener against Chelsea en route to a 4-0 semi-final thumping. He scored a brace – first one with a delightful placement after couple of delightful touches , and the second one after running through the defence – in the finals against Sheffield United which Manchester United won 6-3 on aggregate. Two days later, he again made the headlines – for throwing his girlfriend’s cell phone out of a window during an argument and subsequently being fined £600 for the same. He was soon touted as one of the best young talents coming up the ranks in Manchester United. But off-the-field incidents got better of him and on the final day of the 2011-12 winter transfer window, Sir Alex confirmed that it would be better for him to try his luck away from the limelight at Upton Park. So what if he can do this, this and this?
And it is no surprise that he has not learnt his lessons. He has recently been fined £7,000 by FA (Football Association) for posting a homophobic threat on Twitter. Surely, his social networking skills are not something to boast of. But it seems better than his knowledge of using a search engine: “Who knows west hams official website?” # @RavelMorrison49. He seems destined to be a wasted talent. But one can only hope that Big Sam (Sam Allardyce) would be able to tame this spoilt brat and turn him into a glittering diamond. And going by Morrison’s footballing skills alone, there is no reason why he should not!
About Goalden Times Editorial Team
Goalden Times Crew | Reach out to as at editor@goaldentimes.org or tweet as @GoaldenTimes.
