West Ham United manager Sam Allardyce has described Ravel Morrison's pre-season form as "exciting", while challenging the youngster to earn a place in his first-team plans this season.

Morrison has found the net consistently this summer after returning from a loan spell at Birmingham City and scored twice against Sporting Lisbon earlier this month.

Allardyce believes that the 20-year-old could develop into a fine player if he finds the discipline to match his talent.

He told Sky Sports News: "He does seem to have matured. He's obviously taken a good look at himself and decided that, if he is going to make it as a professional footballer, he needed to be more disciplined in his day-to-day life.

"His contribution in pre-season has been exciting for us. His big challenge will be when he gets his chance to play in the first team at competitive level.

"When the whistle goes on Saturday, it is 100mph from the start. He will have to learn to cope with that but he is really promising and hopefully we look forward to him continuing to develop into a player who will play a part in the first team."

The Hammers get their Premier League campaign underway tomorrow at home to newly-promoted Cardiff City.