Ravel Morrison, once viewed as the next future star at Manchester United, has revealed that he used to steal the boots of players like Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand in order to buy food for his family.
The 28-year-old has failed to hit the heights that were expected of him at a young age, and he regrets some of his actions whilst coming through at Manchester United.
"Obviously I was on a scholar's wage, I was young," Morrison said on Rio Ferdinand's Five podcast.
"You used to get like 250 pounds for a pair of boots. You take two pairs of boots, you get 500 pounds and you 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 so much harm, but when I used to see yours or 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, I didn't think it would be a big problem, but obviously now I know."
Sir Alex Ferguson was so confident in Morrison's ability that he called him one of the greatest talents he had seen, but the midfielder never established himself at Old Trafford and subsequently went on a career path that involved playing in England, Wales, Italy, Mexico, Norway and, most recently, the Netherlands, where he played for ADO Den Haag.