Reggae Boyz head coach Steve McClaren has poured cold water on speculation of a personal rift with fan favourite Ravel Morrison, as he insisted that the midfielder’s omission from Jamaica’s national team setup is based solely on performance standards, not personality clashes.

Morrison, who currently plays for Precision in the UAE Second Division, has been left out of even the extended provisional 60-man pool for the Concacaf Gold Cup— a decision that has baffled a passionate Jamaican fan base that continues to rally behind the 32-year-old.

"I love Ravel. I worked with him for a year at Derby County, and I know exactly the kind of quality he brings. He has a fantastic personality and tremendous skill, and there will be nothing better for me than to be able to pick Ravel at the top of his game,” McClaren declared during a virtual press conference on Thursday.

He continued, “But this is not about the past; we are living in the now and moving forward, so when I look around at the players, the first thing I check is what league they are playing in and what the quality of football is like in that league. So that standard dictates where that player is at in the present moment, and Ravel is not where we want him to be at the present moment.

"When we called him up for the US (Nations League quarterfinal game) just to get him involved, I said to him that ‘we need you playing in a tough competition where you can get up to the standard where you're demonstrating week after week. Now, the Dubai third division is not of that standard. There is no way that I can even watch him on video. There's no way I can see him because the league does not have footage. So therefore I don't know what level he is playing at because I haven’t seen the level.”

Though fans have been adamant that despite playing in a lower-tier league, Morrison still possesses qualities that are sorely lacking in the current team—composure on the ball, vision, the ability to create space, and moments of ingenuity. In fact, many point to the Jamaica Premier League (JPL) as a benchmark and argue that Morrison’s level in the UAE cannot be significantly worse, especially considering his 21-goal contribution season.

McClaren acknowledged the view but remains firm.

"Yeah, it's tough making decisions, and that's my job. I'm not excluding Ravel from the squad because he has not been in the squad since I've been here or long before that. I totally agree about his qualities, but do I see that now? No. Because it is not demonstrated to me now," McClaren explained.

"The Dubai League is totally different than playing in the JPL. It's not the standard of that. The JPL is equivalent to what we play in the Caribbean, and so, therefore, they can adapt to that type of football. I apologise to everybody, but I can't pick him purely because I haven't seen him, and I don't know what level of quality or fitness he is at. I knew where he was two years ago when I was at Derby working with him. But that's a long time,” he added.

On that note, McClaren revealed that he spoke to Morrison and his agent as he repeated his challenge to make the move to a higher-level league, preferably in Europe, where he can be seen and evaluated in real time.

“With his ability, he should be playing top, top football. I've said to his agent that he needs to get back to the UK. Get back into Europe, a top team where we can see you week in and week out, where you can demonstrate what you can do at the level that is appropriate to what we're going into, which is World Cup qualifiers. I've certainly learned over the last eight months that the football in the Caribbean is tough, hard, and totally different from anything in Europe and also anything that might be in Asia,” the Englishman noted.

Finally, McClaren stressed that Jamaica’s World Cup journey demands not just talent but preparedness. As such, he pointed out that the door is open, but not without conditions.

“Believe you me, there's nothing against Ravel, but I've got to be honest with him, and I've got to be honest with everybody and say that it's a matter of where you're playing and what standard you're playing at now. When playing at a certain level, of course, who wouldn't want to have Ravel Morrison in the squad playing as Ravel Morrison can, but unfortunately I haven't seen that because I can't see any of the games that he's playing,” the tactician ended.