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 senior international debut in the match against Bosnia and Herzegovina. He started on the left wing before being substituted out in the 75th minute for Robert Pires. The match ended in a 1–1 draw. Due to an injury to starter Éric Abidal, Evra supplanted him and appeared as the starting left-back in France's first two 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification matches. After being called-up for the team's March 2005 friendly against Switzerland, Evra was forced to withdraw from the team due to injury. As a result, William Gallas was inserted in the role as a makeshift left-back. Following Abidal's return