Patrice Evra (7 Viewers)
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Ferguson: “Patrice, two people are going to be great managers in this team. You and Ryan Giggs.”
Evra: “Come on, boss!”
Ferguson: “Patrice, trust me because you understand football, you know how to talk to people, you’ve got the leadership. Forget tactics and everything; you know how to pass on your passion. You can easily pass on your inspiration, your leadership. Trust me — do your badges.”
Evra, who was about to turn 32, had not considered management until then. Before that season had finished he was coaching academy players. Now in his second year at Juventus, Evra regards his concluding years as an elite-level player as an observation course in Serie A tactics and preparation. “I am like a computer, I’m trying to absorb everything.”
When Ferguson spoke, you listened. The way his captain tells it, there was no point arguing when a halt was called to a quarter-century at Old Trafford. “I remember we talked maybe two weeks before and he said, 'Patrice, I will be here another five years’,” says Evra, laughing. “I said. 'Yes, boss. Let’s do it.’ I was so convinced. He was looking younger and younger, amazing. He even told me '99%, Cristiano Ronaldo will come’. I was like, 'Wow, we are ready to bounce back and to even win the Champions League again’.
“After that everyone knows what happened. You know when you are lost and you feel like the world is crumbling? It was a big trauma. I felt lost.”
Ferguson had been working with Ronaldo’s representatives to bring the forward back from Real Madrid, and Ronaldo wanted the move. The decision to retire, he explained to his players, was made after a family bereavement, the death of his wife’s twin sister.
A year later, Evra himself had to face the decision: stay or go. Much has been said about the Frenchman’s transfer to Juventus 59 days after United announced a one-year extension to his contract. The standard narrative is that the left-back was too old; that the inbound Louis van Gaal preferred Luke Shaw, Marcos Rojo and Daley Blind in his position.
One reason Evra requested our interview was to let United’s supporters know why he left. The delicacy of the departure, and a desire not to offend Juve fans in detailing the pain it caused him, made Evra wait more than a year before speaking. “First of all I didn’t want to hear about any club because my club was Manchester United,” he says. “We have to be clear about that.
“David Moyes had said to me, 'I really want you to stay because you are my captain’. I explain, 'But I have got a family problem and it will be difficult for me to stay’. After that I met [executive vice-chairman] Ed Woodward, 'Patrice, I know your problem, your agent told me about it, but I can’t lose you. You are such an important figure at the club.’”
Evra, whose wife wished to leave England, thanked Woodward and requested some time to think. While he was on holiday United announced that contract extension. His deal included an option for another year, and the club exercised it.
“Juventus had already talked to me. The challenge was so exciting. [Juve coach Antonio] Conte had called me a lot during the World Cup. It was not difficult to go to Juventus, because it is such a big, historic club. But it was difficult to leave Manchester United.
“Ryan Giggs called me and said 'Come on Patrice, if you want, you can talk with [Louis] Van Gaal’. I say, 'OK, but I am really upset and let’s see.’ Ed Woodward called me and said again 'Patrice, I am sorry. But you have to stay, I will give you another two years contract.’ I understood he had the club’s interests at heart. I didn’t know what to do.
“The president of Juventus, Andrea Agnelli, called me and said 'Look, we didn’t put your contract to the Italian league, you can change your mind, but we really want you here’. And I feel somebody really wants me strongly, with a lot of respect.
“After that I speak with my wife and she was ready to go, so I call Ed Woodward to say, 'I am sorry, I already gave my word to Juventus, I can’t go back’.”
The hardest moment came when Evra went to say his farewells to a touring United team in their Los Angeles hotel. “It was one of the worst days in my life. Finally I meet Van Gaal. 'Patrice, nice to meet you, a lot of people talk so well about you. I really want you to stay.’ I say, 'It’s too late...’ 'No. I have got a lot of plans for you, for you to play centre-back sometimes. Play 3-5-2.’
“And again I was thinking 'Oh, my God.’ That’s why I don’t want to blame anybody. The only person who takes the full responsibility why I leave Man United is myself. I am the one to make the choice.”
Evra remembers looking at himself in black-and-white stripes and asking what he was doing. For two months he felt unable to give all of himself to his new team.
Slowly he began to appreciate the benefits of a training regime that demanded more than double the hours he had put in at United, a medical team that resolved a long-term health problem, and an approach to tactical preparation unlike anything he had known in reaching four Champions League finals with Monaco and United.
“I didn’t expect this,” he says. “ I learnt a lot about a way to be more professional — even if I was already a massive professional in Manchester. I was sometimes thinking, 'You win a lot of trophies for Manchester but you could have done much more if you had known the Italian way to play.’
“I always say the Premier League is like two boxers fighting. The one who is least strong gets tired, he goes down. Here it is like a chess game, and you have to understand every move before you play with your quality, your strength, your skill. That’s the difference.”
Evra’s first season added Serie A and Coppa Italia titles to his 10 major trophies at United, and he was in the Champions League final again in May. In September, Juve went to Manchester City, fell a goal behind, but left as winners. Serie A is poised to displace the Premier League in third place in the Uefa rankings. Is he surprised?
“No. I learn a lot, and I’m a little bit worried about English football. Why? In Europe, being fast, being strong, playing only with your quality, you are going to struggle against teams that prepare. That is where England has to work, it is about tactics. But it is not easy, because the players won’t accept it.
“When Juventus played Manchester City — and it was an extra bonus of course as an ex-Red — I was not worried. Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City, when they buy expensive players a lot of people say, 'They should win, you see all the wages he got’. But this is not the football.
“When you play against Manchester City, did any player win the Champions League in their squad? Before the game I thought, 'In Juventus, I’ve got three or four.’ It’s not like being arrogant, but it’s just, 'I know what I’ve got in my bag, let’s go.’
“Then before the game it’s like going into the restaurant. I say to [Massimiliano] Allegri, the coach, 'What is on the menu today?’ Because he gives you all the information. Against City, the way we came out from the back, it was really smooth, because we train every day like that.
“When I’ve got the ball I have three solutions, I have to choose the best one. In England sometimes you’ve got the ball and you have to create something with your own skill. But in Italy they don’t leave you time to create. Allegri always says, 'If this door is closed why go through it? Go to the open door. If that one is closed again, pass the ball back, then you go to the other door.’ That’s their philosophy, and I’m so lucky to get all of this information.”
If his luck holds, one day Evra wishes to pass that information to Premier League players. He already has the master’s seal of approval.
Evra: “Come on, boss!”
Ferguson: “Patrice, trust me because you understand football, you know how to talk to people, you’ve got the leadership. Forget tactics and everything; you know how to pass on your passion. You can easily pass on your inspiration, your leadership. Trust me — do your badges.”
Evra, who was about to turn 32, had not considered management until then. Before that season had finished he was coaching academy players. Now in his second year at Juventus, Evra regards his concluding years as an elite-level player as an observation course in Serie A tactics and preparation. “I am like a computer, I’m trying to absorb everything.”
When Ferguson spoke, you listened. The way his captain tells it, there was no point arguing when a halt was called to a quarter-century at Old Trafford. “I remember we talked maybe two weeks before and he said, 'Patrice, I will be here another five years’,” says Evra, laughing. “I said. 'Yes, boss. Let’s do it.’ I was so convinced. He was looking younger and younger, amazing. He even told me '99%, Cristiano Ronaldo will come’. I was like, 'Wow, we are ready to bounce back and to even win the Champions League again’.
“After that everyone knows what happened. You know when you are lost and you feel like the world is crumbling? It was a big trauma. I felt lost.”
Ferguson had been working with Ronaldo’s representatives to bring the forward back from Real Madrid, and Ronaldo wanted the move. The decision to retire, he explained to his players, was made after a family bereavement, the death of his wife’s twin sister.
A year later, Evra himself had to face the decision: stay or go. Much has been said about the Frenchman’s transfer to Juventus 59 days after United announced a one-year extension to his contract. The standard narrative is that the left-back was too old; that the inbound Louis van Gaal preferred Luke Shaw, Marcos Rojo and Daley Blind in his position.
One reason Evra requested our interview was to let United’s supporters know why he left. The delicacy of the departure, and a desire not to offend Juve fans in detailing the pain it caused him, made Evra wait more than a year before speaking. “First of all I didn’t want to hear about any club because my club was Manchester United,” he says. “We have to be clear about that.
“David Moyes had said to me, 'I really want you to stay because you are my captain’. I explain, 'But I have got a family problem and it will be difficult for me to stay’. After that I met [executive vice-chairman] Ed Woodward, 'Patrice, I know your problem, your agent told me about it, but I can’t lose you. You are such an important figure at the club.’”
Evra, whose wife wished to leave England, thanked Woodward and requested some time to think. While he was on holiday United announced that contract extension. His deal included an option for another year, and the club exercised it.
“Juventus had already talked to me. The challenge was so exciting. [Juve coach Antonio] Conte had called me a lot during the World Cup. It was not difficult to go to Juventus, because it is such a big, historic club. But it was difficult to leave Manchester United.
“Ryan Giggs called me and said 'Come on Patrice, if you want, you can talk with [Louis] Van Gaal’. I say, 'OK, but I am really upset and let’s see.’ Ed Woodward called me and said again 'Patrice, I am sorry. But you have to stay, I will give you another two years contract.’ I understood he had the club’s interests at heart. I didn’t know what to do.
“The president of Juventus, Andrea Agnelli, called me and said 'Look, we didn’t put your contract to the Italian league, you can change your mind, but we really want you here’. And I feel somebody really wants me strongly, with a lot of respect.
“After that I speak with my wife and she was ready to go, so I call Ed Woodward to say, 'I am sorry, I already gave my word to Juventus, I can’t go back’.”
The hardest moment came when Evra went to say his farewells to a touring United team in their Los Angeles hotel. “It was one of the worst days in my life. Finally I meet Van Gaal. 'Patrice, nice to meet you, a lot of people talk so well about you. I really want you to stay.’ I say, 'It’s too late...’ 'No. I have got a lot of plans for you, for you to play centre-back sometimes. Play 3-5-2.’
“And again I was thinking 'Oh, my God.’ That’s why I don’t want to blame anybody. The only person who takes the full responsibility why I leave Man United is myself. I am the one to make the choice.”
Evra remembers looking at himself in black-and-white stripes and asking what he was doing. For two months he felt unable to give all of himself to his new team.
Slowly he began to appreciate the benefits of a training regime that demanded more than double the hours he had put in at United, a medical team that resolved a long-term health problem, and an approach to tactical preparation unlike anything he had known in reaching four Champions League finals with Monaco and United.
“I didn’t expect this,” he says. “ I learnt a lot about a way to be more professional — even if I was already a massive professional in Manchester. I was sometimes thinking, 'You win a lot of trophies for Manchester but you could have done much more if you had known the Italian way to play.’
“I always say the Premier League is like two boxers fighting. The one who is least strong gets tired, he goes down. Here it is like a chess game, and you have to understand every move before you play with your quality, your strength, your skill. That’s the difference.”
Evra’s first season added Serie A and Coppa Italia titles to his 10 major trophies at United, and he was in the Champions League final again in May. In September, Juve went to Manchester City, fell a goal behind, but left as winners. Serie A is poised to displace the Premier League in third place in the Uefa rankings. Is he surprised?
“No. I learn a lot, and I’m a little bit worried about English football. Why? In Europe, being fast, being strong, playing only with your quality, you are going to struggle against teams that prepare. That is where England has to work, it is about tactics. But it is not easy, because the players won’t accept it.
“When Juventus played Manchester City — and it was an extra bonus of course as an ex-Red — I was not worried. Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City, when they buy expensive players a lot of people say, 'They should win, you see all the wages he got’. But this is not the football.
“When you play against Manchester City, did any player win the Champions League in their squad? Before the game I thought, 'In Juventus, I’ve got three or four.’ It’s not like being arrogant, but it’s just, 'I know what I’ve got in my bag, let’s go.’
“Then before the game it’s like going into the restaurant. I say to [Massimiliano] Allegri, the coach, 'What is on the menu today?’ Because he gives you all the information. Against City, the way we came out from the back, it was really smooth, because we train every day like that.
“When I’ve got the ball I have three solutions, I have to choose the best one. In England sometimes you’ve got the ball and you have to create something with your own skill. But in Italy they don’t leave you time to create. Allegri always says, 'If this door is closed why go through it? Go to the open door. If that one is closed again, pass the ball back, then you go to the other door.’ That’s their philosophy, and I’m so lucky to get all of this information.”
If his luck holds, one day Evra wishes to pass that information to Premier League players. He already has the master’s seal of approval.
