‘Time has moved on' – Man Utd wild child Ravel Morrison, 32, targeting Championship transfer as he puts past behind him
RAVEL MORRISON has pleaded for clubs to ignore his wild child past.
The former Manchester United wonderkid is targeting a move back to the Championship - but wants to put the past behind him.
Morrison was hailed as a whizz-kid of the Old Trafford youth system when Sir Alex Ferguson was in charge but he quickly earned the reputation of an unreliable 'bad boy'.
He made what turned out to be disappointing move to West Ham and then Lazio, where he only managed eight appearances in 2015.
Loan spells at Birmingham City, QPR, Cardiff City, Sheffield United, Derby County and Mexican side at Atlas also didn't work out.
But Morrison is wiser than the kid who got into trouble, ended up in court and left Old Trafford on a sour note.
Back in September, the 32-year-old signed for the 14th club of his rollercoaster career - Precision FC in Dubai in the UAE second division.
He told The Athletic: 'Even now, I can guarantee that if I signed for a club in England, the headline in all the newspapers would be something negative.
'If another player at United gets into trouble, he's always 'the next Ravel'. Anything that anyone does wrong gets linked to my name.
'It pops up on my Instagram and I'm thinking, 'Oh, not again… how many years is this now?'.
At West Ham, there were occasions when he missed training because he had been up all night on his PlayStation.
And he was accused of attitude issues, timing problems and appeared in court for witness intimidation and criminal damage while at Man Utd in 2011.
Ravel Morrison reveals he used to steal boots from Man Utd dressing room to sell and feed his family
Morrison was also once fined £7000 by the FA for alleged homophobic comments made on Twitter.
But homesick Morrison has set his mind on moving back to England and having one last crack at the second-tier again, where he has already played for six different sides.
He said: 'I do believe I can play in the Championship — easy. The frustrating thing is I'm not getting the opportunity.
'My agent has spoken to a lot of sporting directors, chief scouts and heads of recruitment, and we've got really close to an agreement.
'Then they get the manager's opinion and it becomes, 'Ah, but he's done this, he's done that', and they are speaking about things that happened when I was a kid.
'Time has moved on, it's over a decade ago. But it's crazy sometimes how people don't move on.'
'So many people have formed an opinion about me, but those opinions are based on things that happened 10 to 15 years ago.
'I'm 32 now. I've played football around the world and had a good career. I'm not a kid of 16 or 17 anymore.
'But then again, I have to look at myself because it all stems from my own mistakes. I did some things that were wrong and I can't blame anyone but myself.'
He has won 20 caps for Jamaica since switching allegiances in 2020.
Morrison, who shares the same hometown as Marcus Rashford in Wythenshawe, has his eyes set on returning to where it all began at Carrington.
Speaking on the Undr the Cosh podcast last month, Morrison said: "I've got my B licence now - I did it in the summer.
'"I want to get into some type of coaching after I retire. That'd be good. I'd like to go back to United!"
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