Former West Ham defender James Collins has shared his thoughts on what he made of his former Irons teammate Ravel Morrison.

‘Ginger Pele’ who is still seen regularly at the London Stadium and has a big connection with the fans, despite departing the club in 2018, was highly complimentary of the former Manchester United midfielder Morrison.

Ravel has sadly seen much of career hampered by off-field incidents and discipline struggles, as Collins admitted that the talent in the player was there for him to be a huge success in the game.

“Ravel Morrison was the best player I’ve ever seen,” Collins said to West Ham Fan TV. “The boy was an absolute joke. I’m gutted you all didn’t get to see him more than you did, because that boy should have been the best player in the world.

“He was ridiculous. What I’d seen, Ryan Giggs, Gareth Bale, he would have been on a level with them boys.”

Collins gave an insight into the struggles that overshadowed Morrisons career, stating that even after a stunning performance and goal – he would go AWOL and leave many so frustrated by the wasted talent he demonstrated.

“Remember that goal he scored against Tottenham,” Collins added. “That was just before Christmas. The club had had a bit of trouble with him, he had not been turning up for training. So he scored that goal and won the game. Me, Kevin Nolan, Mark Noble had him at the back of the bus and gone: ‘right Rav, this is you now. Everyone is speaking about you, seeing what you are doing. Keep it going’. We trained on Christmas Day to play Arsenal on Boxing Day.

“We were in training, sitting on the bus at Upton Park, he just didn’t turn up and he had just scored that goal against Tottenham, whenever it was and everyone was talking about it. So we thought we had him and he was in and his head was straight and then he just f***ed off.”