West Ham midfielder Ravel Morrison has fought his way back into the Premiership and says he is keen to make his mark at Upton Park.
Morrison spent last season on loan to Championship side Birmingham, where he scored three goals in his 30 appearances for the club and feels that the experience has helped him progress as a player.
“I missed West Ham a lot but it was still good in the Championship,” the former Manchester United youngster said.
“I probably enjoyed the game against Millwall the most, when we came back from 3-0 down to draw 3-3. That was probably the best game because the whole team worked hard. I also scored a couple of good goals.”
It hasn’t been the perfect career to date for the 20-year old midfielder, who was released by Sir Alex Ferguson due to his off-pitch attitude.
He was later snapped up by Allardyce for £1.4 million in January 2012. The Hammers boss said at the time that he was well aware of the risk he was taking when snapping Morrison up.
“People will say that signing him is a gamble and to a certain extent it is," Allardyce said. “We wouldn’t have been able to sign the perfect footballer with a perfect background from Manchester United. Under no circumstances would Sir Alex have let a player go with such talent, had he not had some problems.”
Morrison was then sent on a 12-month loan to Birmingham, but manager Lee Clark claimed to run out of patience and wanted to return the midfielder to West Ham just three months into his loan.
However, Morrison is looking ahead after starting pre-season with West Ham as they prepare for the new Premier League season.
He said: “Hopefully I can get an opportunity. I’ve just got to carry on working hard in pre-season and show the manager what I can do.”
