Midfielder Ravel Morrison has spoken about his failed transfer move to Rangers after holding face-to-face talks with manager Steven Gerrard last month, as reported by The Times.
The former Man United prospect sparked reports in January he could be on the verge of a move to Ibrox after following multiple Rangers related accounts on Instagram.
Now he’s revealed a move may have been close, having spoken to Gerrard directly about a switch from Lazio to Rangers.
As quoted by The Times, he said:
He’s [Gerrard] a legend in football and he was willing to sit down and have a really good conversation. Certain old-school managers wouldn’t have done that.
My agent spoke to another manager, in the Championship, who just said ‘No, he won’t fit in here.’ My agent asked him to do some research, speak to people who have worked with me. The manager came back and said ‘OK, but he doesn’t work hard enough, doesn’t tackle back.’ ‘Have you actually seen him play?’ ‘Not recently.’ And it’s just excuses. Too many managers say no because they have a bad image of me from things ten years ago.
The £360,000-rated midfielder (Transfermarkt) eventually moved to Swedish outfit Ostersunds FK to work under English boss Ian Burchnall but it’s interesting to hear that Gerrard pursued him to some degree.
It’s also nice to hear our manager give players the time and respect they desrve, with Morrison clearly appreciated his approach compared to the unnamed Championship boss.
Why the move did not work we don’t know right now, perhaps the Ibrox manager felt it was too much of a risk to bring him to Glasgow having not played a lot of first-team football over the last few years.
He may have been a viable attacking midfield option though, with the current team badly needing that link between defence and attack. That was never more apparent than yesterday against St Johnstone.
Could Morrison have been the number 10 we are looking for?