West Ham Encouraged as Morrison Finally Shows Maturity to Match His Talent

Ravel Morrison may finally have the chance to demonstrate his undeniable talent in the Premier League after another impressive performance in pre-season helped West Ham United claim a 3-2 win over Sporting Lisbon in Portugal.

The 20 year old was once viewed as one of the finest talents at the Manchester United academy, but a string of off the field incidents, combined with a poor attitude, led to Sir Alex Ferguson allowing the midfielder to leave the club.

Morrison would be charged £7000 by the FA for posting a homophobic tweet shortly after joining the Hammers and was then shipped out on-loan to Birmingham City for the 2012/13 season.

Despite a difficult start Morrison began to show glimpses of his ability towards the end of the season and has continued that form into pre-season as he excelled for West Ham by scoring two goals in the win over Sporting Lisbon.

The first was a precise finish from 25 yards that bobbled past the Sporting keeper, while the second showed his ability to perfectly time a run as he arrived late in the box to head home a cross from Joe Cole.

Morrison has now scored four goals in pre-season and West Ham assistant manager Neil McDonald believes there has finally been a change in his attitude.

"He has certainly grown up a touch," Sam Allrdyce's number two told West Ham's official website. "With all due respect, when he first came from Manchester United he thought he was the top kid and he was going to walk straight into our team and it certainly doesn't work like that.

"We sent him away to get the experience at Birmingham and he's certainly come back and he's used that experience.

"He had some experience around him as well [in midfield] with Kevin Nolan and Mark Noble pulling and pushing him, as you'd expect. If we can get him on the ball in the final third then he can produce and he's produced two goals on Monday."

Morrison is yet to make a single Premier League appearance and has just one first team outing to his name for West Ham - coming in a Championship game against Leeds United.

West Ham fans will be hoping his new-found maturity helps him fulfil his potential as he has the ability to become a major influence on the side for many years to come.