Ravel Morrison, England’s poster boy for wasted potential
2 min read
If you follow English football, you have probably heard this history at least once, but it is always worth remembering, especially today. Ravel Morrison was highly regarded to be one of the greatest players in recent memory in English football, but a lot of different reasons kept him from fulfilling his potential. And today we are going to remember Manchester United’s failed academy product.
Legendary Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand recently did a podcast where he talked with former United youngster and a brief teammate of his, Ravel Morrison. The now 28 year old might be not too known to people not familiar with English football, but he has sadly become a poster boy of sorts of promises not living up to their potential.
Morrison started out in the early 2010s in Manchester United’s academy and he was hotly tipped to be the best player of that particular generation. To put things into consideration, it is worth pointing out that Paul Pogba played alongside Morrison in the Red Devils’ academy, but it was the latter who was the star and the one where most people put their hopes to.
Sadly, though, things didn’t go that way for Morrison. The English playmaker was deeply involved in personal situations that didn’t help him at all and he had a troubled environment, plus an entourage on a professional level, that didn’t help him at all. The writing was on the wall since January of 2012 when he left United and joined West Ham.
He was involved in crimes of which he was deemed innocent, scandals and a lot of different things that kept his mind off football, which has been a running theme in the many different teams he has played throughout the years. He even revealed in the podcast with Ferdinand that he stole Rio and Wayne Rooney’s boots at United to sell them to feed his family.
Even recently, he terminated his contract with Dutch side ADO Den Haag, which is yet another club where he was given a chance and never lived up to the expectation. Whether it was poor performances or not even being capable of the required levels of professionalism, the reality is that Morrison never manages to stay in a club beyond a couple of months.
It is definitely a very sad story and a reminder of players that come from a working class background but don’t manage to seize these opportunities. Morrison was a talented advanced playmaker that had all the skillsets and ability to make it as a top class footballer, but the environment and the background he grew up in really played a negative effect in his development.
