Ravel Morrison is a 17 year old local lad from Longsight in Manchester, the same area that Wes Brown and Danny Wellbeck hail from. He has been at United for a few years now and is known in some circles as the worst kept secret in Football!
He became well known due to a couple of outstanding performances as a schoolboy for United, one being in the final of the FA Youth Cup in 2008 which they lost to Chelsea 3-1. He signed professional forms on his 17th birtday (Feb 2010) having stepped up to the Academy with ease that year.
This season he has progressed to the Reserves playing 6 games, making the transition look easy, as well as the odd game for the Under 18’s. He even made his first team debut in a Carling Cup came against Wolves this season coming on a sub very late on in the game but unfortunately for him he did not get a kick of the ball. Some think that his debut for the first team was just an appetiser for the big time from Fergie with good reason too.
Ravel has become infamous off the pitch and maybe this is why Fergie is giving him these tasters. As a 16 year old he was stopped in a car by Police. He and 3 others were busted and the cops found guns and cocaine in the car. Not a good sign for one the best talents at the club.
Since then he has seemed to get his head down but there is still questions over his attitude. I think now that he playing Reserve football and soon to be first team he should be ok, well hopefully!
Morrison is an excellent dribbler, he draws defenders in and then makes a mockery of them with either his trickery or his acceleration. He is a great passer of the ball too and plays with his head always up. He plays on either wing or just behind the forwards. He has an eye for goal and pace to burn which have earned him comparisons from experienced football writers to among others Theo Walcott and Cristiano Ronaldo.
In fact Henry Winter from the Daily Telegraph had this to say about Morrison recently when writing about what Ferguson has done for the English game:
‘This is the club boss who could supply more than half of England’s starting XI in Ben Foster, Wes Brown, Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick, Owen Hargreaves and Rooney, let alone cultivating Ravel Morrison as a potential gem for 2014.
Better than Kieran Gibbs and Jack Wilshere, certainly up there with Jack Rodwell, if Morrison does emerge as the pre-eminent English footballer of his generation, it will be because of a certain Scot’s shrewd guidance. ‘
What does the future hold for this kid? If he gets his head down, forgets what his neighbourhood friends are doing and concentrates on nuturing his glaringly obvious talent then expect big things. For this season he will remain at Reserve level but if his progress continues expect to see him challenge to be part of the first team squad next year. I doubt that Ferguson will let this lad leave on loan as this is one he will definitely need to keep an eye on!
With the raw talent that Morrison has compared to all others his age, it would be unthinkable that he doesn’t make it at the highest level possible.
The video below is higlights of an Academy game against Blackburn. Morrison is wearing number 12. If you havn’t the time to watch the full thing just skip to 3mins 20 seconds and watch for a full minute and you will see what I mean by change of pace and mockery with the trickery. Enjoy!
Submitted by Glory Glory Man Utd
