Morrison is told: Show them what you’ve got!
HARRY Redknapp has urged Ravel Morrison to ‘earn a contract’ at Blues and ‘prove to people that you can produce’.
The manager revealed he has handed Morrison a one-month trial with a view to a move from current club Lazio.
The 24-year-old, who was on loan at St Andrew’s during the 2012/2013 season, was also part of Redknapp’s QPR side who won promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs in 2014.
And Redknapp hopes the midfielder, who was regarded as one of England’s finest young talents while at Manchester United, can get his career back on track after off-thefield problems in the past and two stuttering years in Italy.
“He’s such a talent,” he said. “His ability is up there with the best there is around. I said to him yesterday: ‘Ravel, listen, there is only one mug in this country that will take a chance on you now and that is me’.
“I have taken him for a month on trial and said to him: ‘come and show what you can do, earn yourself a contract, don’t waste all that fantastic ability, and prove to people that you can produce and behave’. He is not a bad lad. He is not a nasty boy in any shape or form.
“He has been easily led by the wrong people, but he trained yesterday and some of the stuff he does is fantastic. I love watching him play.”
Redknapp also expressed his admiration for Jordan Hugill. He has been linked with a move for the 25-year-old, who enjoyed an excellent season at Preston with 13 goals in 47 matches.
“I like him,” Redknapp said. “He’s quick, strong, powerful, raw, a handful. He’s a good player but he belongs to Preston.”
Blues head to Austria for their preseason camp on Sunday and Redknapp added: “I would hope to have one or two new recruits in by then.”
Hugill is under contract until 2019 and Preston were reported to have rejected a £1.5 million offer from Ipswich in January. IT is a testament to Ravel Morrison’s unique talent that his return to Blues has generated as much excitement as it has.
Blues have an agreement with the 24-year-old’s parent club Lazio for him to train at Wast Hills for the next week, though Harry Redknapp certainly has a longer period in mind.
As things stand, Morrison is not on the list to travel on the pre-season tour to Austria on Sunday but one assumes if he does well over the coming days then the Italians could be persuaded to extend his stay.
Indeed, having barely played Morrison since his move to Rome in 2015 and already loaned him back to Queens Park Rangers this year, the Serie A outfit are clearly willing to trade.
Which puts the ball firmly on Morrison’s side of the head tennis net. And we all know how good he is with a ball.
The hope is that back on familiar territory, where the attacking midfielder had probably the best season of his career in 2012/2013, he will thrive.
Morrison made 23 starts under Lee Clark – more than in any other campaign of his stuttering career – and while there were ups and downs during that period, on the football pitch, the loan from West Ham was a success.
The key to unlocking the prodigious talent that made Sir Alex Ferguson so indulgent for so long, is keeping everything about the football. No matter who you talk to about Morrison, certain themes keep coming back. Firstly, he loves football, secondly, he’s very, very good at it.
So, back in a city he knows, relatively close to his childhood home in Man- chester, working for a boss who understands him – Morrison spent part of 2013/14 under Redknapp at QPR – hopefully the environment is stable enough to make everyone a winner.
What this ‘trial’ tells us is that Redknapp is leaving no stone unturned in his quest to improve Blues. Whether an ageing central defensive legend, a young man with untapped potential, a defender with just two years in pro football, the best keeper in the Championship – Harry is considering every option. And none are more intriguing than Morrison.