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 Evra revealed he preferred to move to England to join Manchester United. The following day, Manchester United officially issued a transfer bid for the player. On 6 January, United manager Sir Alex Ferguson confirmed a deal for Evra was reached. Four days later, the transfer was official as Evra joined the club for a transfer fee of around £5.5 million and signed a three-and-a-half-year contract. Evra's arrival signalled Ferguson's intention to shore up the club's defence that had suffered since the sidelining of Gabriel Heinze. After joining the club, Evra affirmed that Manchester was his only future destination: "I was