If there’s one thing that former Manchester United defender Patrice Evra could be accused of, it’s failing to speak his mind. The French left back was beloved by the club’s fanbase for his personality, effort and commitment to the cause. His exit to Juventus in the summer of 2014 was a blow to the newly-installed Louis van Gaal, and whilst the former AS Monaco player’s age was certainly a concern, United have missed his marauding presence on the left side of defence ever since.
Still, Evra’s infectious personality being splattered across social media certainly fills that whole, and his recent role as a pundit for ITV’s World Cup has been a timely reminder of his enjoyable personality. Especially when he’s being as entertaining as this…
“I give you an example when Robin van Persie joined Man United,” said Evra during his punditry on ITV in quotes carried by Metro. “First of all when he came I said ‘welcome to a proper team, a man team, not a baby team’. And he laughed, but he understood straight away because I remember him saying ‘Patrice, to be fair, I just feel like now I’m playing for a big team because all of you win many trophies, many medals, and you still go in the gym before training, going in the gym after training’.
“Robin was like a kid, he was just like amazed about that. ‘When he looked at us he’d say like ‘when I see all of you guys, I have to work hard because I want to win, I want to win trophies.”
This acts as a timely reminder for the club’s fans of Van Persie’s wonderful impact after his transfer in 2012. Whilst United’s quality squad was certainly a factor in that title-winning season, there’s no doubting the Dutchman had a huge impact on Sir Alex Ferguson’s team, and his 30 goals made for a magical debut campaign.
