How do you sum up a player like Ravel Morrison? A talent? Yes. A wasted talent? Oh, most definitely. He was once a Manchester United player, inducted into the senior side by the great Sir Alex Ferguson. The Scotsman once famously said that Morrison was the best player he’d ever seen. And that’s coming from the man who managed Cristiano Ronaldo, David Beckham, Eric Cantona and Ryan Giggs. These days, he’s fighting to secure a deal with EFL Championship club Derby County.What happened? The story is intriguingly frustrating.Between 2009 and 2011, Jesse Lingard, Ravel Morrison and Paul Pogba were teammates at Manchester United’s youth side. Morrison was looking like the most likely to make it onto the big stage among three of them. Lingard said Morrison was better than Pogba.”I played with Morrison from the age of 8 or 9 years. He is the best natural talent, a player who can do anything. If he wants to score, he will score. At the age of 18, no one can tackle him. He was able to show skills that no other player could do at his age.”Sir Alex Ferguson describes the situation with Ravel Morrison as his “saddest case” at #MUFC (from ‘Leading’). pic.twitter.com/3syPpMqkJF— Tifo Football (@TifoFootball_) October 8, 2015 Ten years on, you’d be forgiven if you didn’t even know Morison’s name. He never reached the predicted heights. Many players lost their way because of injuries that can throw a young man’s development off course. But no, Morrison didn’t suffer because of injuries. He was just impossible to control.Despite his impressive ability, Ravel was known as a temperamental person. At United, he often made trouble with his coach, lacked discipline and liked to go around on his own. In 2011 he pleaded guilty to two counts of witness intimidation and was sentenced to a 12-month referral order and ordered to pay costs and compensation of around $2,000. Later that year, he underwent domestic violence counselling after it was revealed in court that he threw his girlfriend’s phone out of a window during an argument. It was clear that he was a loose cannon. But such a talented one.
Together with Manchester United’s first team, he never once got a minute to play. Not even Ferguson, one of the best man managers the sport has ever had, could not guide him at the time. It wasn’t for the lack of trying. Time and effort were invested in the youngster, but Sir Alex had to admit defeat.Morrison was released to West Ham in January 2012, hoping that he could focus on maximising his abilities, but it was just another episode in the story of failure. Loans at Birmingham City, Queens Park Rangers and Cardiff City showed that the lad could indeed play football, but none of those clubs were willing to bite the bullet and sign him permanently.Rio Ferdinand reveals what Sir Alex Ferguson thinks about Ravel Morrison #mulive [@rioferdy5] pic.twitter.com/LjT8bupkJt— utdreport (@utdreport) February 15, 2021 English clubs weren’t up to it, but an Italian was. Lazio swooped in and signed Morrison on a free transfer in July 2015 after his West Ham contract was up. Still only 22 at the time and a promising England youth international, the signing looked like a major coup for the Serie A greats. Boy, were they wrong.Reports quickly began to surface that Morrison was unable to settle in Italy. There were even suggestions he had been offered back to QPR before he had even appeared for Lazio. Despite a promising start to pre-season, the England Under-21 international failed to establish himself at Lazio amid renewed criticisms of his attitude.Then-Lazio boss Stefano Pioli publicly said that Ravel has a long way to go to become a part of the team.”Morrison has to work harder. He still doesn’t speak a word of Italian, and this has slowed his integration in the squad.”Nightmare at Lazio (©Gallo Images)After eight appearances in all competitions, he returned to QPR on loan but yet again made just one start as the London outfit turned down the chance to make the transfer permanent.Morrison later described his move to Lazio as the worst decision he’s made in his life. The Roman club tried to get rid of the Manchester boy by sending him on an eyebrow-raising loan to Mexican club Atlas. Staring at the prospect of having Morrison back in Rome, Lazio cut their losses and released the midfielder. He was quick to sign a short-term contract with Swedish first-tier club Ostersunds. Both of those moves gave Morrison a bit of respite from his Italian nightmare, but nothing more.Then-27, Morrison returned to England with newly-promoted Sheffield United. As you might have guessed, he failed to make an impact at Bramall Lane, making four appearances in all competitions, which included just one substitute outing in the Premier League.##EDITORS_CHOICE##Next up was an attempt in the Netherlands. Morrison signed a one-year deal with ADO Den Haag in September 2020 – the 11th club of his career. Former Tottenham Hotspur manager Martin Jol, now Den Haag’s technical director, was optimistic after completing the signing.”Ravel has actually not quite fulfilled his great promise. That’s partly because he went to West Ham United and major Championship clubs early in his career. His forays in other countries were not conducive to continuity in his career, but we hope that Ravel can show his qualities on the Eredivisie podium.”Jol was wrong. Morrison was released less than four months into his contract.But such is the magic in Ravel’s feet that clubs are still hoping that they manage to get the best out of the midfielder. His former Manchester United teammate Wayne Rooney came to the defence of the troubled midfielder after taking him on trial at his club Derby County. Morrison played for the Rams in a 2-1 friendly defeat against their old club Manchester United on Sunday.Sone Aluko, Ravel Morrison, Phil Jagielka and Sam Baldock are on trial with Derby County and started against Manchester United on Sunday Rams fans, how many of those would you offer contracts too? ✍️🏻#CCP | #DCFC pic.twitter.com/JohZPo2Sbg— The Championship Chat Podcast (@Champchatpod24) July 19, 2021 And after the game, Rooney claimed the midfielder has hit the ground running and improved the standards in training despite not playing since January.”I think with Ravel, he’s very misunderstood. His ability is clear for everyone to see. Since he’s been with us, the standards in training have gone up. There are things he does on and off the ball that I can recognise immediately. That’s where he’s brought the levels up in training. He showed some nice touches on the pitch against United, but we need to remember he hasn’t played for a very, very long time. So it was natural that physically he was going to tire.”Yes, Ravel Morrison did tire. And we’re all tired of seeing him throw his talent away. Could Wayne Rooney control the talented nutter? We hope so, but please forgive us if we aren’t convinced.