Ravel Morrison opens up about his time at Manchester United

Ravel Morrison was part of Manchester United’s academy generation that won the FA Youth Cup in 2011 together with Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard and Michael Keane.

He was one of the most talented youngsters in England at the start of this decade and was described as “the best kid you will ever see” by United’s manager at that time, Sir Alex Ferguson.  

Morrison made his debut for the senior team of Manchester United on 26 October 2010 in the 3-2 victory over Wolverhampton in the League Cup. He was expected to have a great future with the Red Devil, but played only two more games for United, before joining West Ham United in 2012.

Ferguson said at the time that Ravel was “a brilliant footballer. Brilliant ability. Top class ability,” but “needs to get away from Manchester and start a new life”.

Morrison was three times loaned during his West Ham United spell – to Birmingham, QPR and Cardiff. He moved to Lazio in 2015, but played only four matches for the first team, being loaned to QPR (again) and Mexican side Atlas.

The 26-year old completed his move to Osterunds, Sweden two days ago. In an interview with The Times he opened up for his time on Old Traford early in his career:

It was always ‘Ravel’s done this, Ravel’s done that. The one thing I took was a pair of football boots that the player didn’t wear any more. But watches? Phones? That was ridiculous to say.

When I was 16/17 I used to train with the first team on Mondays. It was exciting the first few times, training with those players. Then, after that, you know you can do what they do and they can do what you do. It feels normal.

There were times when I did something wrong, but often it was just wrong time, wrong place, wrong crowd and it wasn’t even me doing something. But because I was there, it was easy to point a finger at me. It’s easy to put a negative by my name because of where I’m from and because I’ve made mistakes in the past.

There are players who have been done for drink-driving and that label hasn’t stuck by their name. I don’t go out drinking, getting pissed, causing trouble, drink-driving, smoking, taking drugs. Other players get away with those things.

Can you imagine if I was done for drink-driving? If I do something, it sticks against me for ever. I made mistakes when I was young, but it’s nearly ten years ago. Everyone makes mistakes when they’re young.