Rio Ferdinand Says Paul Pogba's Idol at Manchester United Was Ravel Morrison

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It is a cause of great regret for Manchester United fans that the club were unable to hold on to Paul Pogba.

The French midfielder spent three years learning his trade in the Old Trafford academy, before growing frustrated by a lack of first-team opportunities and joining Juventus in 2012. He's since gone on to establish himself as one of the best midfielders in the game.

While developing his game at Manchester United, Pogba won't have lacked role models to look up to in the first team—Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs to name but two.

So it may come as a slight surprise that despite the presence of such legends at the club, Pogba's main idol was none other than Ravel Morrison.

Rio Ferdinand revealed that much in an interview with the Daily Mail, where he recalled watching a youth-team game with Sir Alex Ferguson and Wayne Rooney:

Sir Alex Ferguson said "come and have a look at this kid". Me and Wazza [Wayne Rooney] walked out and there was an Under-15 or Under-16 game going on. Fergie said he [Morrison] was the best kid he'd ever seen, better than Giggsy or anyone. He was just playing the game as and when he wanted to play. He would slow it down, then speed it up. It tells you something that when they were 15, 16, 17, Paul Pogba and Adnan Januzaj used to look up to him and idolise him.

Since then, Morrison has struggled to cement himself at a number of clubs, including West Ham United, Queens Park Rangers and Lazio, while Pogba has won three Serie A titles and played in a Champions League final with Juventus.

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How times change.

[h/t the Daily Mail]