Ravel Morrison admits stealing Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney's boots to "feed his family"

Ravel Morrison has admitted to Rio Ferdinand that he stole his and Wayne Rooney's boots so that he could feed his family.

The troubled star has had a colourful history in football but is still just 28.

But while at Old Trafford, there were many coaches - including Sir Alex Ferguson - who tipped him for superstardom.

After making just three appearances for Manchester United, the club he came through the academy with, he signed for West Ham in 2012.

However, he has gone on to join 10 other clubs - never making more than a handful of games at any of them.

Former United boss Ferguson admitted that personal troubles affected his football.

Ravel Morrison made just three appearances for United (Action Images)

And Red Devils legend Ferdinand has kept in touch with the midfielder and spoke to him during a revealing chat on the Five YouTube channel.

Morrison even confessed to stealing his and Rooney's boots but explained why it helped his family.

He said to Ferdinand: "Remember I got kicked out of the changing room for thieving your boots?"

Ferdinand responded: "Tell me if I’m wrong but you were taking our boots down to Goals to show your mates…."

Morrison replied: "Obviously I was on scholar’s wage, I was young.

"You used to get like £250 for a pair of boots. You take two pairs of boots, you get £500 and go home and buy your family a Chinese or something.

"You guys used to get like 30 pairs of boots. I didn’t mean it to cause harm but when I saw yours or [Wayne] Rooney’s deliveries, you’d get 20-30 pairs at a time.

"I was thinking one pair to put some food on the table at home, it wouldn’t be a big problem."

The pair chatted for nearly 30 minutes, regaling stories of United - and another propped up that epitomised Morrison's cheeky personality.

Ferdinand explained: "At the training ground, this is how confident this kid was, we would be getting out lunch.

Ravel Morrison has had a troubled career (PA)

"Me, Giggsy, Nev, Scholes, Wazza, everyone, we are sitting down at the first-team table.

"And he would be in the queue and I remember him telling Gary Neville that Arsenal are better than United.

"He said, ‘I’m gonna go Arsenal, I am gonna sign for Arsenal soon if I can.’ Do you remember that, Rav?"

He replied: “Yeah, because I wanted to play with Thierry Henry.

“Obviously, Rio knows he played in a superstar team but the way I like football and my style, Arsenal were the one for me.

“You had Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Sylvain Wiltord, Nicolas Anelka, wicked.”