Are Newcastle United making a mistake passing on football’s resident bad boy?

Newcastle United are no strangers to bad boys.

The club have had their fair share of troublesome and eccentric players in the past and have had varying degrees of success when handling them – and it seems that despite being offered Ravel Morrison at a knockdown price by West Ham United, the Magpies are unwilling to take a chance on football’s resident bad boy and one who makes Mario Balotelli look like a choir boy.

Ravel is currently desperately looking for a club after running out of chances in east London and it seems Serie A is calling, with Lazio willing to offer him a way out come the end of the season.

Newcastle were unwilling to take a chance on him despite the player being offered on the cheap, with the fact that his agent has made it very clear that any potential deal would be one weighted heavily in the club’s favour doing nothing to convince Mike Ashley and the Newcastle board that they should take a punt on the troubled young player.

The issue of just who will take the reigns at the club would of course have played a huge part in any potential chance handed to Ravel. He has not yet found a manager who can control him or keep his wild side in check, and quite if a head coach is the man to do that remains rather dubious indeed.

His talent is unquestionable, yet like with so many other players in the modern game, his application of it and off the field distractions – not to mention mental demons – could well see it go to waste.

Ravel needs a chance, and if he gets one and gets it right, could well be a world beater. He could also end up a washed up reject on football’s scrapheap at the tender age of 21. It seems that Newcastle United think he will be the latter.

Newcastle fans. Would you like to see Ravel at the club? Who could handle him? Let us know your thoughts below, become a guest blogger or tweet us @LaFootyettes.