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 resulted in Evra leading a player protest against the decision on 20 June, in which the players refused to train. Prior to leading the revolt, Evra had got into a verbal argument with national team fitness coach Robert Duverne. The strike was denounced by the FFF as well as French government officials. The following day, the players returned to training without incident. As a result of the mutiny, Evra was stripped of the captaincy and benched for the team's final group stage match against hosts South Africa. France lost 2–1 and were eliminated from the competition. Following the competition, former