Remember Ravel Morrison?
Manchester United supporters certainly won’t have any trouble remembering the academy product who was referred to as “the best kid you’ll ever see” by Sir Alex Ferguson.
Ferguson viewed Morrison as the most talented prospect at his disposal when he graduated from United’s youth set-up in 2010.
“Sadly there are examples of players who have similar backgrounds to Giggs or Cristiano Ronaldo who, despite enormous natural talent, just aren’t emotionally or mentally strong enough to overcome the hurts of their childhood and their inner demons,” Ferguson wrote in his 2015 book Leading.
“Ravel Morrison might be the saddest case. He possessed as much natural talent as any youngster we ever signed, but he kept getting into trouble. It was painful to sell him to West Ham in January 2012 because he could have been a fantastic player. But, over a period of several years, the problems off the pitch continued to escalate and so we had little option but to cut the cord.”
After an unsuccessful spell at West Ham, Morrison went through several loan deals before being shipped out to Lazio, the Italian club from which he has also been loaned.
The Manchester-born midfielder is now at Mexican club Atlas and while there remains little hope of seeing Morrison break into Gareth Southgate’s England squad, he is reportedly entertaining the idea of representing Jamaica at international level.
Despite being capped by England at underage levels, Morrison is set for talks with Jamaica officials to discuss the possibility of lining out for them, according to the BBC.
Off-field issues have significantly hampered the 25-year-old’s development but there is still time for him to get his career back on track.
Former teammate Rio Ferdinand has recently spoken about the potential possessed by a young Morrison.
"Sir Alex called me and Wazza over one day and said 'look, this kid is better than you when you were a kid Wayne, better than Rio and Ryan Giggs'."
"This is the best kid you'll ever see."
Rio Ferdinand explains why Ravel Morrison just couldn't quite fulfil his potential… 🤔 pic.twitter.com/G7gOXJmCy6
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) January 20, 2018
Speaking on BT Sport in January, Ferdinand said: “Sir Alex called me and Wazza over one day and said, ‘look, this kid is better than you when you were a kid Wayne, better than you Rio, better than Ryan Giggs. This is the best kid you’ll ever see.'”
