Following his reported 300k move from Manchester United in January, youngster Ravel Morrison wasn’t able to establish himself as a first team regular.
After only making one substitute cameo role at the back-end of the season, it was evident that Big Sam was keeping young Ravel, under-wraps. But moving away from his first real season of alleged first team football, the West Ham coaching staff have indicated that Ravel will be a big part of the pre-season plans for West Ham, and see what exactly he can bring to the table . He will be going with the squad on their annual pre-season tour.
But what exactly do we know about Ravel Morrison? Not much we presume. He is 19 years old, a Manchester United academy graduate, much like his predecessors David Beckham, Paul Scholes, and Welsh phenomenon Ryan Giggs.
Sir Alex Ferguson dubbed him as ‘the best prospect since Beckham’ which is a huge accolade to have as a young talent and saw his meteoric rise through the United ranks. He signed his first profession contract on his 17th birthday, and made his first United appearance on 26th October 2010, coming on as a substitute in the League Cup against Wolves. He went on to make two more League Cup appearances the following season. He was also part of the FA Youth Cup winning side with United.
On 20 April 2011 he scored the opening goal against Chelsea in the semi-final of the Cup at Old Trafford, which Manchester United went on to win 4–0. Morrison added two more goals in the second leg of the Youth Cup final against Sheffield United, a match that United went on to win 4–1, securing the title 6–3 on aggregate. Not only that, he also has England youth caps to his name, he scored on his first ever England game for the u16′s, and has caps at U17 & U18 levels for England.
So it seems that Ravel Morrison has quite the career ahead of him, this was cast into doubt over issues at the United training ground where he reportedly stole items from other players, this and his contract issues forced Sir Alex to make the decision that the player should not be kept at the club, putting one of England top prospects up for sale. Attempts were made to sign the player from Newcastle United, and Italian side Roma, but he would not join for personal reason. However on the 31st of January, West Ham had a bid accepted for the player and he would agree terms and sign for the London club.
Ravel appeared to make an impact for the development squad, scoring both goals in a 2-0 win over Brentford, and the tabloids had him down for a quick breakthrough into the first team squad, but Big Sam had other ideas. Ravel has stated that he would like to break into the first team as soon as he can but understands that this is no easy task. The owners have stated that he will have as fair a chance as anyone else to play for West Ham next season, he just needs to buckle down and continue with his work at the club, and hopefully a chance will come
So this leaves us where we are today. Young Ravel is now part of the squad to take part in the pre-season tour, and the coaches will assess whether he should be included in the teams set-up in the upcoming Premier League season, or whether a loan spell for first team experience would be beneficial. With the players West Ham are on the verge of signing; reports of interest in Wilfried Zaha, Eljero Elia & Luc Castaignos, its hard to see whether Ravel will get his chance this year, but its evident Sam see’s potential in the young man as he made the effort to sign him. It’s clear he will play a part for West Ham, sooner or later.
