It’s a sad state of affairs when a youngster with just three first team games to his name won’t sign a contract for anything less than a reported £30k a week.
It’s even worse when you consider the club - Manchester United - and the manager – Sir Alex Ferguson – has one of the best reputations for bringing through youngsters in the last 20 years. In simple terms arguably only Barcelona have a better record at producing players for the first team. However, all of that doesn’t seem good enough for 18-year-old Ravel Morrison.
Morrison denies making such - to use Ferguson’s own words - ‘unrealistic’ claims insisting, via his private Twitter account, that any offer, let alone one for 30k a week, is yet to be forthcoming.
Newspapers claim that United have offered the troublesome teenager a meagre £12k a week but for a club that has stood by Morrison through some dark times surely the attacking midfielder should be asking ‘where do I sign’ rather than questioning the amount on the table.
Contract issues aside if Morrison is to be as good as people in the know will have you believe it should only be a matter of time before he begins to stamp his authority on the first team. After all the likes of Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney had all established themselves at United and Everton respectively by the time they had reached Morrison’s age. If Morrison is to live up to his billing – and that is a big ‘IF’ – and be considered in the same class as the likes of Giggs and Rooney he will surely be paid what he deserves sooner rather than later. However, it seems patience is a virtue that is lost on the younger generation.
If Morrison is to be believed and no contract has even been tabled it begs the question as to whether United are using the ‘contract negotiations’ as a smokescreen and washing their hands of the youngster once and for all.
Despite his lack of first team football Red Devils fans got more than a glimpse of the England youth international in United’s recent Carling Cup exit against Crystal Palace. Morrison came off the bench at half-time with the score at 0-0 and despite the odd flick here and there did little to influence the outcome of the game during the second period and subsequent extra time. Harsh? Maybe but would a young, upcoming Giggs, Scholes or Rooney have made a positive impact on the same game? Almost certainly.
Morrison’s chances of making it at United now look slim to none but what is almost certain is that the youngster will end up making millions out of the game, probably moving from one club to another with each new manager believing they can be the one to curb his off-pitch antics. The saddest thing is that Morrison will probably deem that a success when he could have earned something far more valuable by becoming a hero at Old Trafford.
