Ravel Morrison

Ravel Ryan Morrison (born 2 February 1993) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder.

Born in England, he represents the Jamaica national team.

Morrison rose through the youth ranks at Manchester United where he was touted as one of the club's most promising youth talents.

His football career has been hindered by legal issues and disciplinary problems.

Morrison signed on as a first-year scholar in 2009 and turned professional on 2 February 2010, on his 17th birthday.

He made his first team debut in a 3–2 League Cup win over Wolverhampton Wanderers on 26 October 2010, coming on as a substitute for Park Ji-sung.

On 20 April 2011 he scored the opening goal against Chelsea in the semi-final of the FA Youth 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 Manchester United went on to win 4–1, securing the title 6–3 on aggregate.

On 25 October 2011, he came on as a substitute for Mame Biram Diouf in a 3–0 League Cup win over Aldershot Town.

He then came on at half-time during United's 2–1 League Cup fifth round loss to Crystal Palace, replacing Dimitar Berbatov.

He made three cup appearances for the Manchester United first-team before joining West Ham United in January 2012.

Morrison spent the 2012–13 season on loan with Birmingham City, and also played for Queens Park Rangers and Cardiff City on loan in 2014, featuring in the QPR side that won the 2014 Football League Championship play-off final.

On 13 January 2012, Manchester United confirmed that they rejected an offer from Newcastle United, despite Morrison's contract being due to expire in June 2012.

On 31 January 2012, Morrison signed for Championship club West Ham United on a three-and-a-half year contract for an undisclosed fee.

A clause in the contract between Manchester United and West Ham United ensured that the Manchester club would receive £25,000 for every game Morrison played for West Ham United.

Allowing him to leave Manchester United, manager Sir Alex Ferguson told West Ham United manager, Sam Allardyce of Morrison, "A brilliant footballer. Brilliant ability. Top class ability. Needs to get away from Manchester and start a new life".

On 17 March 2012, he made his debut for The Hammers, replacing Jack Collison in the 81st minute of the 1–1 draw at Leeds United.

With West Ham manager Sam Allardyce keen for him to gain experience of first-team football, Morrison joined Championship club Birmingham City on loan for the 2012–13 season.

He made his competitive debut for the club on 14 August 2012, playing 78 minutes in a 5–1 win over Barnet in the League Cup, and kept his place for the opening match of the league season, a 1–1 draw at home to Charlton Athletic.

Problems with Morrison's attitude in training had led manager Lee Clark to consider terminating his loan, but he returned to the team in October with an influential performance as Birmingham City narrowly failed to beat league leaders Leicester City.

The improvement continued as Birmingham City came back from 3–0 down to draw at Millwall; as the Birmingham Mail reporter noted, "it wasn't just his elegant, effortless ability on the ball and passing, but work rate, too".

He scored his first goal in league football on 17 November 2012, a "spectacular volley" from Nikola Žigić's knockdown, to start Birmingham City's attempted comeback from 3–0 at home to Hull City.

Morrison returned to West Ham United from his loan with Birmingham City for the 2013–14 season.

He was given the squad number 15 with only his first name, "Ravel", listed on the back of his shirt.

Morrison scored his first goal for West Ham United on his full debut, in the second round of the League Cup, on 27 August 2013, in a 2–1 win against Cheltenham Town.

Starting the game against Everton on 21 September 2013, Morrison scored his first Premier League goal, and West Ham United's first of the game, in a 3–2 home defeat.

On 6 October 2013, he scored West Ham's third goal in a 3–0 derby win away against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane.

Manager Sam Allardyce said of the goal, "That's a genius goal for me. You'll struggle to see a better goal than that all season".

It went on to win the West Ham "Goal of the Season" award.

On 19 February 2014, Morrison's 93-day loan, to commence on 21 February, to Championship side Queens Park Rangers was announced.

Morrison's first goals for Queens Park Rangers came on 8 March 2014.

In July 2015, on the termination of his West Ham United contract, he joined Lazio.

In 2017, he had a loan spell back at QPR, before spending the 2017–18 season on loan at Mexican club Atlas.

He joined Swedish club Östersund in February 2019, before returning to England to join Sheffield United in July 2019.

In 2020, he had a loan spell at Middlesbrough, before leaving Sheffield United on the expiry of his contract.

Morrison was born in England, and represented that country at under-16, under-17, under-18 and under-21 levels.

He qualifies by descent to represent Jamaica, and made his senior international debut for that country in November 2020.

Morrison's first club was Fletcher Moss Rangers.

He was first scouted for the Manchester United Academy by former United coach Phil Brogan.

According to Rio Ferdinand, United manager Sir Alex Ferguson "thought he was the best player he had seen at that age".