Patrice Evra 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. He was substituted out at half-time after failing to make an impact. After the conclusion of the match, Ferguson stated, "Maybe it
Patrice Evra shot, described by some in the media as "awful", in the team's penalty shoot-out defeat to Chelsea in the 2009 FA Community Shield. Due to injuries to Rio Ferdinand, Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs, he captained the team in several matches during the season wearing the armband for the first time in his Manchester United career in the team's 3–1 Champions League victory over VfL Wolfsburg. In December 2009, Evra was among three Manchester United players named to the FIFPro World XI for the 2009 calendar year, before being named to the UEFA Team of the Year in January 2010.