Wigan Athletic: Ravel Morrison training with Championship club

Ravel Morrison (left) played three senior games for Manchester United before joining West Ham in 2011

Wigan manager Warren Joyce hopes midfielder Ravel Morrison can rediscover the 'X factor' to help the Latics' Championship relegation fight.

Former England Under-21 international Morrison is training with the Latics.

It is the latest attempt to kick-start the troubled career of a player rated as one of the best to emerge at Manchester United since Paul Scholes.

Joyce said: "If you asked Paul Pogba to name the best he has played with, Ravel Morrison would be up there with them."

The 23-year-old has left Italian side Lazio after making just eight appearances in 18 months.

It is the latest chapter in a career that has failed to ignite in the same way as that of Pogba and Jesse Lingard, who were part of the same 2011 FA Youth Cup-winning team.

What went wrong?

Morrison's ability has never been in question.

Lee Clark, who managed Morrison at Birmingham - one of his six clubs and where he made most appearances, 30 - described him as the best English player since Paul Gascoigne.

His attitude has been questioned though.

His boss at United, Sir Alex Ferguson, excused a number of misdemeanours before eventually losing patience and releasing him in January 2012

Sam Allardyce, who worked with the player at West Ham, suggested Morrison was not prepared to play through pain.

But the major issues have been away from the pitch.

When he was 16, Morrison was a passenger in a car that was stopped by police and found to contain drugs and guns in the boot.

In 2008, he was cautioned for common assault.

He pleaded guilty to witness intimidation in February 2011 and was fined £600 three months later for throwing his girlfriend's phone through an open window during an argument.

What happens now?

Ravel Morrison (right) was part of the same FA Youth Cup-winning side as Jesse Lingard (left) and the world's most expensive player Paul Pogba

Wigan manager Joyce was Morrison's manager for Manchester United's reserve team from 2010 until the player left for West Ham in 2012.

Latics coach Paul McGuinness was in charge of the Under-18 side including Pogba that beat Sheffield United 6-3 on aggregate to win the Youth Cup, with Morrison scoring two crucial goals in the second leg.

Between them, the pair hope to get Morrison back to the player his early promise suggested he would become.

"It is a long shot on his fitness but we have nothing to lose," said Joyce.

"He was one of the stars of a team that included Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard and Will Keane. Talent-wise he is an X-million pound player, among the very best I have worked with.

"Some of the things he can do with a ball are phenomenal really. His balance and the way he glides around players is something a coach would be deluded if they claimed to have helped.

"Unfortunately, outside influences gave him guidance for their own ends.

"I am trying to help him get his career back on track.

"But it has to be on a timescale that is going to help us now, not in four months' time."