Ravel Morrison's emotional chat with his former Manchester United teammate Rio Ferdinand hit the news this week, with Marcus Rashford responding to it.
When Rio knew that 28-year-old midfielder Morrison was guesting on his Vibe with FIVE podcast, he sent a text to Sir Alex Ferguson asking for his memories of the player. Ferdinand admitted the response "almost had me crying" - while Morrison was visibly touched.
The former England youth international, a dazzling academy talent, broke through into the Man United first team aged 17 in 2010. Morrison has since gone on to play for West Ham and Sheffield United in the Premier League, Lazio in Serie A and ADO Den Haag in the Eredivisie.
Of Fergie's response to his message, Ferdinand said: "He text me back this: 'Rio, my first and last impression of Ravel as a young lad was he has always got time and space.
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"'Always available to be on the ball. So unusual for a lad of his age. Give my regards to him, please.
"'Another thing about Ravel which I've always treasured, which no other player who made their debut did it, after the first game in the first team that he played, the next morning he came to my office and gave me a letter thanking me for giving him his debut. I was gobsmacked, Rio.
"'The boy had a good heart. He was just beaten by his background.'"
A clearly moved Morrison responded: "When I made my debut that was... I don't know. Words can't describe it; making your debut for Manchester United."
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Ferdinand pressed further, saying: "What does hearing that from someone like Sir Alex make you feel like?"
"It touches you, do you know what I mean?" Morrison replied. "Because if I could go back in time, I would change 90% of my life."
The outpouring of support following the exchange included a response from another United academy graduate, Rashford, who tweeted: "Nobody in their 20s has failed at life, still so many more chapters to live @morrisonravel. Keep your head held high."
Morrison has achieved in his career, scoring his first Premier League goals for West Ham and impressing at Queens Park Rangers where he won a Championship Player of the Month award and helped QPR to promotion.
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Wayne Rooney once said of him: "I remember watching Ravel Morrison thinking he had everything required for a player in his position. He was brilliant. He was confident.
"He nutmegged Nemanja Vidic three times in the space of a minute in one training game... I saw Paul Pogba come through, Jesse Lingard, all these players and Ravel was better than any of them by a country mile."
High praise from Rooney for a player who just turned 28 this month, and still has time to make his mark on the game.
Ravel will be playing in the £10,000 guaranteed LADbible Poker tournament at 7pm this Sunday on GGPoker - and will have a bounty of £100 on his head. Knock him out of the tournament to claim the cash.
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Entry costs you just £5.25 - and don't worry if you can't make the start time, you have until 8:30pm to enter with unlimited re-buys.
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Football, Manchester United, Ravel Morrison
