08.02.2015 16:57 h

Morrison suffers Hammer blow

Ravel Morrison, once hailed as a rising star of English football, has left West Ham after the Premier League club cancelled his contract on Sunday.

The 22-year-old midfielder joined the London club in January 2012 after a two-year spell at Manchester United, and made 24 appearances in three years for the Upton Park side.

But several disciplinary problems clouded his time with the Hammers and he had loan spells at Birmingham, Queens Park Rangers and Cardiff.

"West Ham United can confirm that the club have reached agreement with Ravel Morrison to terminate his contract with immediate effect," said a statement on the club's website.

Regarded as one of the brightest young talents in English football while at Manchester United, Morrison appeared for the first team in the League Cup before he was sold to West Ham for £650,000 ($1.03 million, 829.472 euros) in January 2012 when the Hammers were in English football's second-tier Championship.

He spent the 2012/13 season on loan at Birmingham before breaking into West Ham manager Sam Allardyce's first team in the following campaign.

However, Morrison has made just two appearances for the east London club this season back in August.

He joined Cardiff in September on a three-month loan but his spell in the Welsh capital was largely unsuccessful and he returned to West Ham after playing seven times for the Championship side.

Morrison was linked with a move to Italian side Lazio during the recent transfer window but remained on the books of West Ham instead.

January saw Morrison cleared of charges of assaulting his former girlfriend and her mother in Manchester last July.

However, the prosecution dropped the charges and Morrison was found not guilty.