Make Your Case: Is Ravel Morrison a player that Sunderland should possibly take a gamble on?

Kev Campbell says: “Bring him in!”

Should we offer Ravel Morrison a deal? I believe there’s no good reason not to, and here is why.

Financially, there’s no real risk involved in bringing him in.

He’s been on a low wage at cash-strapped Derby County, and his weekly wage has been somewhere between £5000 and £7000 per week. Even offering him a pay increase to bring him to Sunderland would make his signing extremely economical.

Morrison is also a player with enormous potential.

I know you generally don’t use the term ‘potential’ when talking about a player who is about to turn thirty, but his ceiling is extremely high and it seems he’s trending upwards after a successful campaign last year. He has been rated and purchased by several top teams during his career, and only his attitude has held him back.

By all accounts, Morrison has matured over the last year under the management of Wayne Rooney and company. He has had no reported dust-ups; he seems to have been respected by his peers and coaches, and he even appeared to take up a leadership position during a very difficult situation. If his attitude really has improved, he may be prepared for his breakthrough.

Morrison fits a similar bill to Patrick Roberts, in terms of needing to settle down at a club. This could very well be a contributing factor to his inconsistency and shortcomings, and a chance to settle into a team, a city, and a culture, could be just what the doctor ordered.

So Ravel Morrison is a low financial risk, with a repaired attitude and reputation, with bags of quality and a high ceiling, who simply needs a place to call home. Tell me exactly why signing him is a bad idea?

Photo by Steven Paston/PA Images via Getty Images

---

Phil West says: “No, he’s not the right fit for us”

Morrison, for all of his undoubted talent, is a classic case of a player’s reputation preceding him, and unfortunately, it isn’t in a positive sense.

A cursory glance at his playing career highlights the fact that he has drifted from club to club, rarely settling down, and often being beset by negative headlines and questions over his attitude and application.

His rise through the ranks at the Manchester United academy should’ve been the starting point for a long and successful career, but he has only shone fleetingly, and various loan spells and brief sojourns at the likes of Queens Park Rangers, Lazio, and Sheffield United yielded no real success.

Derby fans do seem to speak highly of his contribution to their team’s efforts last season, but his numbers were not exactly eye-catching, and I personally see any move for him as an unnecessary gamble.

At twenty nine, Morrison is not a young prodigy anymore. He’s an experienced professional who ought to be in the prime, or just past the prime of his career, but who instead finds himself at a crossroads.

The simple fact is that Alex Neil has fostered a superb team spirit since he arrived at the club- the likes of which we have not seen for some time at Sunderland, and I don’t think he would be keen to make any moves in the transfer market that would throw that into jeopardy.

I’ve seen quite a few people claiming that Neil ‘wouldn’t have difficulty with a character like Morrison’, but is it worth taking that risk? Next season will be very challenging, and every single player needs to be on the same page and determined to give everything for the cause

There is no denying that Morrison has talent, but after witnessing the recruitment of players in years gone by who caused aggravation with their attitude and perceived lack of effort, I think this would be an option we should bypass.

---