Patrice Evra (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 with 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 assisting on seven as Monaco reached the semi-finals in both
Patrice Evra and his role in using his experience to unite the team. In the final, France suffered a 1–0 extra-time defeat to Portugal. Regarded as one of the best players in the world in his position during his prime, Evra is a fast, energetic and athletic left-back, who, despite his size, is physically strong, and good in the air, which also allows him to be deployed as a centre-back on occasion; in addition to his physical attributes, he is also comfortable on the ball and adept at getting into attacking positions as a wing-back, where he can deliver crosses to teammates,