Background and career
Patrice Latyr Evra (French pronunciation: [patʁis ɛvʁa]; born 15 May 1981) is a French former professional footballer who played as a left-back. Evra served as captain for both Manchester United and the France national team. He was named in the PFA Team of the Year on three occasions, as well as the FIFPro World XI and the UEFA Team of the Year. He is often regarded as one of the greatest full-backs of all time. The son of a diplomat, Evra was born in Senegal and arrived in Europe when he was a year old. Evra started his senior career with Italian club Marsala. The following season, he joined Monza, but returned to France a year later to play for Nice where he was converted into a full-back. In 2002, he joined Monaco and was part of the team that reached the 2004 UEFA Champions League Final. Evra's performances for Monaco culminated in a move to English club Manchester United in January 2006, where he spent eight years and went on to win 14 trophies including five Premier League titles and a UEFA Champions League. In 2014 he joined Italian side Juventus, where he won two Serie A titles and played in another Champions League final. Evra moved to Marseille in January 2017; however, he was released in November 2017 after being banned from UEFA competition for seven months for kicking a fan prior to a UEFA Europa League match. Following a short-term contract with West Ham United in February 2018, Evra retired from professional football in July 2019, later completing his professional coaching badges and returning to former club Manchester United as a trainee coach at the club's academy. Evra participated in five major international tournaments for France: the 2008, 2012 and 2016 UEFA European Championships, and both the 2010 and 2014 editions of the FIFA World Cup. Ahead of the 2010 World Cup, Evra was named captain of the national team by manager Raymond Domenech. At the tournament, he appeared in two group matches, although France had a poor campaign that saw the players go on strike after a first-round elimination. The incident resulted in Evra, for his role as captain, being suspended from national team duty for five matches. He returned to the squad and enjoyed a successful 2014 World Cup in Brazil under Didier Deschamps as France reached the quarter-finals.
Evra began his football career playing for hometown club CO Les Ulis. After playing in the streets for years, he was brought to the club by friend Tshymen Buhanga, who informed the club coach, "I bring you the new Romário." Evra spent one year at the club under the watch of coach Jean-Claude Giordanella, who later became vice-president of the club. Giordanella described the player as "more quiet, almost shy. He was a good kid". Evra originally played football in the striker position and, while training at Les Ulis, underwent trials with professional clubs Rennes and Lens. Following the conclusion of the evaluations, Evra was rejected primarily due to his size. In 1993, he joined amateur club CSF Brétigny based in nearby Brétigny-sur-Orge. Similar to his stint with Les Ulis, Evra went on trials with several clubs, most notably Toulouse and Paris Saint-Germain. He was ultimately signed by the latter and converted into a winger. Evra trained at the Camp des Loges for a few months, but was later released. After failing to convince PSG officials of his ability as a footballer, Evra returned to Brétigny and was invited by a friend to participate in an indoor five-a-side football tournament organised by the Juvisy-sur-Orge sports center. While playing, he was spotted by an Italian scout who offered him the opportunity to attend a trial with professional club Torino. Evra spent ten days training with the club and, after the trial, was offered a place on the club's youth team. Afterwards, he was approached by Serie C1 club Marsala, whose officials enticed him with the prospect of becoming a professional. Evra chose the latter option and signed his first professional contract at age 17. Evra spent only one season with the club, appearing in 27 total matches and scoring six goals. After this, he moved to the Serie B level to join Monza for a €250,000 transfer fee after potential moves to Serie A clubs Roma and Lazio fell-through. Evra only appeared in three matches, making his debut on 29 August 1999 in a 2–1 away defeat against Alzano. He left the club following one season after becoming frustrated with his lack of appearances.
Evra returned to France joining professional club Nice in Ligue 2, the second division of French football. He spent the majority of his first season with the club playing with its reserve team in the Championnat de France amateur, the fourth level of French football. He primarily played as a midfielder on the team and appeared in 18 matches, scoring one goal. Midway through the campaign, he was called into the first team by manager Sandro Salvioni. He was assigned the number 26 shirt and made his club debut on 7 October 2000 in the team's 7–2 defeat to Châteauroux, starting in the left winger position. Evra made four more appearances during the campaign, appearing as a substitute in defeats to Cannes, Nancy and starting in the team's 3–0 win over Laval and 1–0 loss to Le Havre in the final match of the season. Evra played primarily as centre forward in the matches. In the 2001–02 season, Evra switched to the number 17 shirt and was promoted to the first team on a permanent basis. In the team's first league match of the season against Laval, he started in the team's 2–1 win. Towards the end of the match, reserve left-back Jean-Charles Cirilli, who was starting in place of the regular starter José Cobos, suffered an injury, which required the player to be substituted. As a consequence, Evra dropped back into the role and played out the rest of the match in the position. Following the match, due to injuries to both Cobos and Cirilli, Evra was informed by Salvioni he would take over the position. Evra made his debut in the position in the team's following league match against Strasbourg, a 3–0 defeat. He appeared regularly in the campaign and, following the return of Cobos, was even allowed to play in his preferred left wing role. With the club in the midst of a promotion battle, Evra scored his first and only goal for Nice in his last match with the club, a 4–3 win over Laval. The victory placed Nice in third place, which resulted in the club earning promotion to Ligue 1 for the first time since 1997. For his performances, Evra was named to the National Union of Professional Footballers (UNFP) Ligue 2 Team of the Year in the left-back position.
Following the season, Evra was recruited by Nice's Derby de la Côte d'Azur rivals Monaco. Despite wanting to play as a left winger again, Evra was advised by manager Didier Deschamps he would only play as a left-back; Evra has since credited Deschamps for allowing him to become a better defender after initially describing the role as being "not fun". Evra was inserted into a back four that consisted of centre-backs Rafael Márquez and Sébastien Squillaci and right-back Franck Jurietti. Evra was assigned the number 3 shirt and made his debut for the club in the opening match of the 2002–03 season against Troyes. He played the entire match in a 4–0 win. On 28 September, Evra scored his first goal for the club, scoring the match-winner in a 2–1 victory against Rennes. On 22 March 2003, he scored his second goal of the season in a 3–0 away win over Le Havre. The victory allowed Monaco to maintain its position at the top of the table, as the club was in a three-way battle with Lyon and Marseille. Monaco climactically conceded first place to Lyon in May, which resulted in Lyon being declared champions for the second time in its history. Monaco finished the campaign in second place, which merited the club an appearance in the UEFA Champions League. The club was also rewarded domestically for its performance in the Coupe de la Ligue where it reached the final. Evra featured in the team's 4–1 win over Sochaux in the match. The league cup title gave Evra the first major honour of his career. After the season, Márquez and Jurietti departed Monaco for Spanish club Barcelona and Bordeaux respectively, and were replaced by Gaël Givet and Hugo Ibarra, the latter joining the club on loan. In the 2003–04 league season, Deschamps installed Evra as a vice-captain and he responded by appearing in 33 matches and providing four assists. Monaco spent six months from September to March in first place, but, like the previous season, conceded the top spot to Lyon as the season wore on. Evra made his UEFA Champions League debut on 17 September 2003 in the team's opening group stage match against PSV. Evra played the entire match in a 2–1 win. He appeared in all six group stage matches as Monaco finished in first place. For his performances in the first half of the 2003–04 season, Evra was linked with a 2004 winter move to English club Arsenal, Italian clubs Juventus and Milan, and Spanish club Barcelona. After appearing consistently with the team, on 24 March 2004, Evra suffered an ankle injury in the club's 4–2 first leg defeat to Spanish club Real Madrid in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Evra subsequently missed two weeks in the league, but was healthy enough to return for the team's second leg quarter-final tie against Madrid, which Monaco won 3–1. The win allowed the club advancement to the Champions League semi-finals on the away goals rule. In the semi-finals, Monaco faced English club Chelsea. Evra appeared in both matches as Monaco advanced to the final, beating the London club 5–3 on aggregate. In the 2004 UEFA Champions League Final, Monaco were pitted against Porto at the Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. The club was defeated 3–0 by Porto. Evra played the full 90 minutes. After the season, Evra was given the UNFP Young Player of the Year award, becoming only the second defender and the first since 1997 (Philippe Christanval) to win the award. He was also named to the organisation's Ligue 1 Team of the Year. Despite missing out on playing in UEFA Euro 2004, Evra endured a tumultuous summer in which the player was linked with moves to Manchester United in England, and Juventus and Internazionale in Italy. Despite offers, Evra remained at Monaco. On 24 September 2004, he signed a one-year contract extension with the club until 2008. In the season, Evra was a regular appearing in a career-high 52 matches scoring one goal and contributing seven assists as Monaco reached the semi-finals in both the Coupe de la Ligue and Coupe de France. Evra scored his only goal of the season on 8 January 2005 in the team's round of 64 Coupe de France match against amateur club AC Seyssinet-Pariset. He netted the opener in a 7–0 win. In the Champions League, Monaco reached the first knockout round, where they suffered defeat to PSV 3–0 on aggregate. Evra appeared in nine of the ten matches the team contested in the competition. In April 2005, Evra confirmed he was interested in departing the club, stating, "I will have a decision to make for the rest of my career... If attracted clubs show concrete interest, I will think about it seriously." Despite several clubs declaring interest in Evra, Deschamps declared he would not be sold. At the start of the 2005–06 season, Monaco struggled falling to 15th place after only a month of play. On 21 December 2005, Evra made his final appearance with the club in a 1–0 win over Lille in the Coupe de la Ligue.
On 27 December, French sources revealed that Manchester United was interested in signing Evra. Despite rumours of Monaco reaching a transfer agreement with Internazionale, on 3 January 2006, Evra revealed he preferred to move to England to join Manchester United. The following day, Manchester United officially issued a transfer bid for the player. On 6 January, United manager Alex Ferguson confirmed a deal for Evra was reached. Four days later, the transfer was official as Evra joined the club for a transfer fee of around £5.5 million and signed a three-and-a-half-year contract. Evra's arrival signalled Ferguson's intention to shore up the club's defence that had suffered since the sidelining of Gabriel Heinze. After joining the club, Evra affirmed that Manchester was his only future destination: "I was not very keen to go forward in the talks with Arsenal, Liverpool or Real Madrid. They all talked with my agent in the past two seasons. But to me, it was over. As I said to the Monaco officials, I only wanted to hear about Manchester." Evra initially had some problems adapting to the English game. He made his debut for the club on 14 January in a 3–1 away defeat to Manchester City in the Premier League, and he was substituted at half-time after failing to make an impact. After the conclusion of the match, Ferguson stated, "Maybe it was a bit of a gamble playing Evra," while the player himself admitted that "playing for Manchester United was something I was not prepared for". Despite the initial set-back, Evra started in the team's ensuing match against Liverpool, a 1–0 victory, and was praised for his performance by teammate Rio Ferdinand. On 26 February, Evra appeared as a substitute in United's 4–0 win over Wigan Athletic in the 2006 League Cup final. On 2 March, it was reported that Liverpool defender Steve Finnan had racially abused Evra in the match. The abuse claims surfaced from two deaf television viewers lodging a police complaint. The viewers claimed to have lip-read Finnan abusing Evra during the televised match. Finnan denied the charge and, after an investigation, The Football Association (FA) decided against charging the player. Evra regularly alternated between the bench and the starting 11 to close out the campaign. He finished the season with 14 total appearances for his new club. In Evra's first full season as a Manchester United player, he struggled to consistently appear as a starter early on in the season as Ferguson preferred Evra's compatriot Mikaël Silvestre. After appearing as an unused substitute in United's first two Champions League matches, on 17 October 2006, Evra made his European debut for the club in its 3–0 group stage win over Copenhagen. On 18 November, he provided the assist for the game-winning goal, scored by Wayne Rooney, in the team's 2–1 win over Sheffield United. Eight days later, Evra scored his first goal for the club in a 3–0 league win over Everton, also contributing an assist. By December, Evra began featuring as a regular in the starting 11. After starting in United's 3–1 Champions League win over Benfica on 6 December, Evra started nine consecutive matches. Evra provided assists in two of the matches; a Rooney goal in a 2–1 away defeat to Arsenal and another in a 2–0 victory over Charlton Athletic. On 10 April 2007, Evra scored the final goal in a 7–1 win over Roma in the second leg of the quarter-finals of the 2006–07 UEFA Champions League. The goal was his first-ever in the Champions League and helped progress Manchester United to the semi-finals, where the club suffered defeat to the eventual champions Milan. Following the league season, which Manchester United won by a six-point margin, Evra was named to the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) Team of the Year, despite only appearing in 24 league matches. Evra began the 2007–08 season as the first-choice left-back. He began the campaign appearing in United's 3–0 penalty shoot-out win over rivals Chelsea in the 2007 FA Community Shield. In competitive matches, Evra appeared in the club's first 12 matches. He missed his first match of the season against Ukrainian club Dynamo Kyiv in the Champions League after suffering a calf injury during warm-ups. Evra returned to the team a few days later for the team's league match against Arsenal. The rest paid off as he assisted Cristiano Ronaldo's goal in the 82nd minute to give United a 2–1 lead. France teammate William Gallas later equalised for Arsenal to draw the match at 2–2. In the return match against Dynamo Kyiv in the Champions League, Evra provided the assist for one of the goals in a 4–0 victory. Though he made 48 appearances in all competitions, Evra failed to score a goal. Manchester United clinched its second consecutive Premier League title on the final day, edging Chelsea by two points. The club later completed a double after defeating the same club on penalties in the 2008 UEFA Champions League Final. Evra made ten appearances in the competition, which included playing the entire 120 minutes in the final. After the season, on 12 June, he signed a four-year contract extension with Manchester United, a deal that was set to keep him at Old Trafford until 2012.
Prior to the start of the 2008–09 season, on 18 July 2008, Evra was charged with four separate counts of improper conduct by the FA. The charges were related to an incident that occurred during the 2007–08 season when Evra had an altercation with a Chelsea groundsman during a warm-down following a match on 26 April. The defender denied the charges and was supported by several members of the club's staff, who commented that the player was racially abused by the groundsman prior to the confrontation. Evra remained free to play for United up to the date of the hearing despite the charges being made in July 2008. He began the campaign in similar fashion to the previous season as Manchester United won the Community Shield following the team's 3–0 victory over Portsmouth on penalties. Evra was ever-present in Manchester United's first 22 competitive matches of the season, starting 19 of them. At the hearing on 5 December, Evra was found guilty of improper conduct, and handed a four-match ban – due to start on 22 December 2008 – and a £15,000 fine.
