Home » Patrice Evra’s Manchester United debut is his best memory

Patrice Evra’s Manchester United debut is his best memory

by Red Billy

Patrice Evra has opened up on his nightmare start to his Manchester United career.

The Red Devils bought Evra from Monaco for €8 million in the 2006 January transfer window.

The Frenchman was thrown straight into the starting lineup for a typically high-octane Manchester derby and clearly did not know what had hit him. He was hauled off at half-time as United slumped to a 3-1 defeat at the Etihad.

‘[I was thinking] “what the hell am I doing here?”’ Evra said in an interview with The Telegraph.

‘I was in Monte-Carlo chilling, here the football is so fast.’

‘”Oh my God you’re so done Patrice. You should go back to Monte-Carlo”. I remember thinking that and the worst part is when the game was finished.’

‘We go back to my flat with my agent and his wife and my agent looked at me like this and said, “Patrice, I’m sorry”. I was like, “Why?” “I’m sorry to bring you here. You’ll never make it, it’s too hard, you should stay in Monte-Carlo”. In front of his wife!’

‘That day I was so bad, so embarrassing.’

It speaks volumes about Evra the man that he describes that day as his best moment in football.

‘People ask me, “What’s your best moment?” And they expect me to say something. But I will say the derby, the first game, because everything was new.’

‘I receive a big slap on my face. I thought I was a big player! Ferguson giving me the hairdryer…’

‘It just made me realise, “Hey, you will have to work really hard here if you want to be a United player”.’

‘So that’s the moment that I want to relive, because it was a hard moment, but such a positive moment.’

Evra went on to play 379 games for the Red Devils and cement his name as one of the greatest left backs the club has ever seen, winning five Premier League titles and the 2008 Champions League.

United are hoping to make Jadon Sancho the next player to wear the famous number 7 shirt. But how much do you know about the players who have worn it before? Take our quiz below to find out.


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