Patrice Evra Evra was named to the National Union of Professional Footballers (UNFP) Ligue 2 Team of the Year in the left-back position. Following the season, Evra was recruited by Nice's Derby de la Côte d'Azur rivals Monaco. Despite wanting to play as a left winger again, Evra was advised by manager Didier Deschamps he would only play as a left-back. Evra has since credited Deschamps for allowing him to become a better defender after initially describing the role as being not fun. Evra was inserted into a back four that consisted of centre-backs Rafael Márquez and Sébastien Squillaci and right-back Franck
Patrice Evra from injury and, due to Domenech preferring Mikaël Silvestre as the incumbent's back-up, Evra went without a call-up for almost two years and, consequently, missed the 2006 World Cup. In October 2007, the defender explained to "L'Équipe" that the World Cup snub "gave me my determination". Evra returned to the team in November 2006 for the team's friendly match against Greece. He appeared as a half-time substitute for Abidal as France won the match 1–0. After going another year without representing France, Evra began appearing as a regular under Domenech in 2007. On 28 May 2008, he was included in