West Ham United manager Sam Allardyce is keen to keep controversial midfielder Ravel Morrison at Upton Park – despite claims to the contrary from co-owner David Sullivan.

The Hammers boss is understood to be more than happy to give Morrison another chance this season, though co-owner Sullivan thinks otherwise.

Speaking on talkSPORT at the weekend, Sullivan suggested Allardyce wanted to move the England Under-21 star on.

The midfielder is currently recovering from an operation on his groin and is going to miss the first few games at the start of the new season.

Speaking to the club’s website, Allardyce said: “We’ve still got Ravel Morrison to come back, he is contracted to West Ham and once his operation has healed up I hope he becomes a better player as he’s been playing with it for a while.”

Allardyce is keen to get the 21-year-old back on the pitch after some promising performances at the beginning of last season.

“If he can do what he did at the beginning of last season that would be great. He had a good spell when he first broke into the team but couldn’t sustain it,” said Allardyce.

The former Manchester United youngster spent the final three months of last season on loan at Championship side Queens Park Rangers, helping the R's win promotion to the Premier League.