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 left-back Jean-Charles Cirilli, who was starting in place of the regular starter José Cobos, suffered an injury, which required the player to be substituted out. As a consequence, Evra dropped back into the role and played out the rest of the match in the position. Following the match, due to injuries to both Cobos and Cirilli, Evra was informed by Salvioni he would take over the position. The young player disagreed with the manager's decision, declaring he was a forward, however after Salvioni informed him, "If you want to be in the team you play there," Evra agreed to fill