Patrice Evra will go down in history as one of Manchester United’s greatest ever left-backs.
Alongside Dennis Irwin, Evra is one of the best left-backs seem at Old Trafford in English Premier League history.
The Frenchman was brought to the club by Sir Alex Ferguson from Monaco in 2006 and he stayed in Manchester for 8 years from there.
Initially struggling to transition to English football, Evra was famously taken off at half-time against Manchester City in his debut game, the defender went on to become one of the outstanding left-backs of his generation.
Since retiring from football, Patrice Evra has become a bit of a social media phenom and television pundit with his famous catchphrase “I love this game” becoming synonymous with his appearances on television.
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But Evra’s latest comments are shocking to say the least.
Patrice Evra was known to be close to another former French Manchester United player.
Paul Pogba returned to United from Juventus in 2016 for a world record transfer fee at the time.
But his time at the club didn’t go too well.
And now Evra has given his thoughts on why.
Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, Patrice Evra sensationally claims that the Glazers brought Paul Pogba back to the club to humiliate Sir Alex Ferguson.
Paul Pogba had infamously left the club initially on a free transfer after Sir Alex had fallen out with his agent Mino Raiola.
“Manchester United brought Paul Pogba back because they wanted to humiliate Sir Alex Ferguson,” Evra told the likes of Gary Neville, Wayne Rooney, Roy Keane and Ian Wright.
“I told Paul to not go back because he wanted Real Madrid and Madrid wanted him, but Florentino Pérez didn’t want to pay the money.
“His agent called United, and he signed with him without telling me.
“The club was happy because they were selling shirts, you know the kids love Pogba.
“It was more commercial than anything on the pitch.”
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This idea that the previous regime were interested more in the commercial aspect of the club over the on-field achievements is not new.
Louis van Gaal made a similarly stinging claim when he was manager of the club.
Even Ed Woodward had stated that the on-field performance of the club doesn’t really affect the revenue generated by the side.
Patrice Evra spoke more on how he tried to protect Pogba and tried to identify where it went wrong at Old Trafford for the talented midfielder.
“It’s not about being a big fan of Paul Pogba, it’s about being his big brother,” Evra added.
“It’s about protecting him.
“I was harsh with him when I joined Juventus.
“One day, he said to the press, “I deserve to win the Ballon d’Or”.
“I was like, “Wait a minute, did you ever hear [Frank] Lampard saying that, did you ever hear [Andrés] Iniesta, Xavi or whatever?” And, I’m like, “Calm down, you’re not ready for that”.
‘With Paul, you see him like that, but inside, he’s not that strong and he’s protecting himself, and that’s why I tried to protect Paul.
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“Because sometimes it [the criticism of him] was unfair.
“People were talking more about his hairstyle or his dancing than judging him on the pitch.
“Even sometimes he wasn’t playing, they were saying, “United lost because of Paul Pogba”.
“I feel like sometimes the press are not being fair with Paul Pogba.
“I can give you an example of when he played against Liverpool for the first time.
‘The night before the game, I was on FaceTime to him.
“And I saw a lot of people in his room and he was signing shirts.
“So I asked him if he was ready for the game, and he said that he was.
“‘I remember that it was one of the worst games he played, so I spoke to him after the game.
“And he told me that I was right, and he wasn’t focused.
“But it was his entourage, his entourage let him down.”
It seems that Patrice Evra feels that the people around Paul Pogba at the time have some responsibility as to why he wasn’t able to fulfil his potential fully at Manchester United.
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