What’s the story
France international Patrice Evra’s agent has revealed that the defender would have done anything to rejoin Manchester United in the January transfer window. The left-back was a fan favourite during his time at Old Trafford and the arrival of Louis van Gaal and Luke Shaw in the same window in 2014 saw Evra leave United for Juventus.
After spending two-and-a-half seasons with the Turin club, Evra has returned to his homeland, where he signed for Marseille on an 18-month deal earlier this month. United were linked with a move for signing the full-back and held talks with Jose Mourinho over a possibility of returning to the Premier League.
"There was contact between the player and Jose Mourinho. If there had been an opportunity to return, he would have done everything to go back to Manchester United,” Evra’s agent Federico Pastorello told Telefoot.
"The key to part of the transfer to Marseille was the meeting with sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta."
In case you didn’t know
The 35-year-old started his playing career with CO Les Ulis, which is his club from his hometown Les Ulis. From there onwards, he developed his game and had trials at Rennes and Lens, only to be rejected due to his height.
Evra also had trials at Toulouse and Paris Saint-Germain, only to be signed by the Parc des Princes outfit. However, he was later released by the French capital club and went on to have several spells at four clubs before being snapped up by United.
Sir Alex Ferguson brought Evra and Nemanja Vidic to Old Trafford in the same transfer window, in January 2006. The duo, along with Rio Ferdinand and Gary Neville became the backbone of the Red Devils’ defence and also won the Champions League in 2008.
Heart of the matter
Reports regarding Evra’s uncertain future at Juventus started to surface in January. It was reported that both United and Crystal Palace were up for his signature and wanted to bring him back to England.
However, Evra made a switch to Marseille as there was no opportunity for him at United. Mourinho has the services of Luke Shaw, Daley Blind and Marcos Rojo, along with Matteo Darmian in the left-back position.
What next?
United’s decision in not re-signing Evra will make a lot good for Shaw as this will improve his chances of playing regular football. Also, this will allow Evra to impress at another club, that too back in his homeland.
Sportskeeda’s take
A section of United fans will be disappointed after their club turned down a chance in bringing Evra back to Old Trafford. At the same time, the other section would be happy that it will provide more opportunities to Shaw.
