Former Manchester United footballer Ravel Morrison has been charged with assaulting two women.

The 21-year-old, who is now playing for West Ham, is accused of attacking a young woman outside a bar in Manchester city centre in the early hours of Sunday morning.

He is also accused of assaulting the same woman and another 39-year-old woman hours later.

Morrison, from Urmston, Manchester, was arrested yesterday and has been charged with two counts of common assault.

He is due at Manchester and Salford Magistrates' Court later today.

A spokeswoman for Greater Manchester Police said: "At about 3.20am on Sunday 27 July 2014, police were called to an address on Alexandra Road, Peel Green, Salford, following reports a 19-year-old woman and a 39-year-old woman had been assaulted.

"Officers attended and established the young woman had also been assaulted outside a bar in Manchester city centre earlier that evening and a 21-year-old man was subsequently arrested at a later date."

West Ham have declined to comment on the matter.

Despite being touted as a bright prospect at Old Trafford, Morrison only appeared in the League Cup before former Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson sold him to West Ham for £650,000 in January 2012.

West ham manager Sam Allardyce took him to Upton Park but he was soon shipped out to Birmingham on loan, a move that the 59-year-old felt helped Morrison develop his attitude.

Video courtesy of Press Association

Upon his return to Upton Park, Morrison established himself in the West Ham first team and was one of their better performers in the early stages of last season.

He scored a memorable goal in a 3-0 win at Tottenham which was voted as goal of the season by Hammers' fans before a groin injury and a drop in form saw him lose his place in Allardyce's side.

Morrison picked up the first of his four England Under-21 caps in a 4-0 win over San Marino in October and was subject to a bid from Fulham in January - although the offer was rejected.

Instead he was moved on to QPR on a loan deal until the end of the season as he helped Rangers to gain promotion from the Championship before returning to West Ham.

Morrison did not travel with the squad on their recent pre-season tour of New Zealand as he underwent surgery on his groin problem, training alone at the St George's Park national training base in Staffordshire.

His long-term future at West Ham has again been questioned after the club's co-chairman David Sullivan suggested Allardyce was not keen on keeping Morrison in his squad - even though the board wanted to offer the midfielder a new deal.

But Allardyce backed Morrison, if he can prove he wants to make it at the club.

"We thought we'd brought Ravel to the forefront of his abilities this time last year," Allardyce told talkSPORT.

"He had a fantastic pre-season and he started the season exceptionally well. I think that drifted away somewhat and he ended up with QPR on loan and ended up helping get them promoted."