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Ravel Morrison set to make senior international debut aged 27 as former Manchester United and West Ham midfielder gets Jamaica call-up
Ravel Morrison has received a call-up to the Jamaica national squad.
The 27-year-old has been on the radar of the 'Reggae Boyz' for some time but has now been selected for the squad for the November internationals.
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He played for England Under-16s, 17s, 18s and 21s but never did enough to receive a call-up to the senior squad.
The former Manchester United youth player is currently playing at ADO Den Haag in the Netherlands after signing a contract with the club in September.
Morrison’s story is one of unfulfilled potential. His talent was lauded by Sir Alex Ferguson but his career fell apart before it even started.
Having turned professional on his 17th birthday in 2010, Morrison ended up making just three senior appearances for the Red Devils and left the club in 2012 without playing a Premier League game.
The list of clubs he has played for is long and includes West Ham, Birmingham, QPR, Cardiff, Lazio and Ostersunds.
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Last season, he signed for Sheffield United and made one Premier League appearance before being shipped out on loan to Middlesbrough.
In a senior career spanning almost a decade, Morrison has remarkably never played more than 30 games for a single club.
In May, he joined talkSPORT host Jim White and spoke openly about his career and how he’d not fulfilled his potential.
“I’ve definitely not shown my best ability on the pitch yet,” he said.
“I showed some of what I can do at West Ham and QPR, but other than that I haven’t had a run of games for seasons because I moved to Lazio and I found it difficult there with adapting to the culture.
“But going there made me more of a man; I went from a boy to man there, I moved away from my family and friends so I could go there and concentrate.
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“I just love the game, I love playing football and I’ve travelled the world just to play, I’ve gone to Mexico, I’ve gone to Italy, wherever I can play football I will play. I just enjoy playing and training every day.
“I do it for my love of the sport but also to provide for my family, to provide for my mum. She’s had difficult times in her life, so everything I’ve got I give to my mum.”
Wayne Rooney wrote in his Sunday Times column that Morrison was one of the most naturally talented footballers of his age he had ever seen, and was ‘better than Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard by a country mile’.
But he also said the youngster lacked the work ethic, attitude and mentality of other players who made it to the top in a United shirt.
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Addressing Rooney’s comments, Morrison said: “Obviously they’re amazing comments especially from the player he is; he’s probably one of the best ever to come out of England, if not THE best.
“But it makes you a bit upset as well, because I could have gone a bit further, I should have gone a bit further and I’m still hoping to go further.
“I knew I had ability, but I didn’t realise and understand these players’ thoughts at the time.
“If I could sit down and go back through my life they’d be a lot of things I would change.
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“It was an every day thing for me when I was young, growing up at United, it was a nice environment to go into everyday with world-class players, it was enjoyable…
“And I know it’s poor, but because I was there from the under-9s I would skip training some days. I would wake up and I would just skip it, I don’t know why.
“It’s hard to get me off the training field now, so if I took my life back to those days I think it would have been a lot better.
“I did lack in a few things and I’ve made mistakes. There were some things in my life when I was young that I now definitely would not do, I’d have gone down a different path.”
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