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
2009–10 Manchester United F.C. season remaining in normal time, Sunderland's former Manchester United winger Kieran Richardson was sent off for dissent, leading to a second yellow card. This allowed pressure from Manchester United to mount, and in the fourth minute of injury time, a shot across the face of goal from Patrice Evra was turned into the Sunderland goal by defender Anton Ferdinand – brother of United defender Rio. The 2–2 result maintained United's unbeaten home record for the season and gave them a one-point lead at the top of the table. However, they dropped to second place after Chelsea beat Liverpool the following day.