Patrice Evra reveals sweetest Premier League title and the best Manchester United player he played with

Since calling it quits on his professional football career in 2019, Patrice Evra stepped into the world of social media and influencing across his platforms, and his latest move saw the Frenchman feature on high-end sneaker store Kick Game YouTube channel alongside celebrity presenter Craig Mitch, where Evra went Shopping for sneakers.

Evra was the latest celebrity to add to his sneaker collection, with previous episodes of the series starring Manchester United Women’s footballer Ella Toone as well AC Milan winger Rafael Leao having also shopped at the store.

Along with sneakers, Evra also spoke of life in Italy while at Juventus, his love for the NBA, and his time at Old Trafford where he won five Premier League titles.

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When asked which one he felt was the hardest title to win by presenter Mitch, Evra said: “All of them were difficult to win, [but] the one that wasn’t the toughest, but was sweet, you remember when we lost the league at the last minute when Sergio Aguero scored the goal [against QPR]?

“We didn’t play well that season. I remember Ferguson came into the dressing room and say: ‘I hope you are hurt because they [Manchester City] deserve to win the league.”

City’s first league title has since seen a surge of success in the blue half of Manchester, though Evra claims losing the title in such fashion only increased the hunger in the dressing room. 

“I remember after that game [vs Sunderland], I had an interview and I said to them: ‘We didn’t deserve to win the league because we were inconsistent this year, but next year, we’re gonna win maybe 10 points in advance’. I was wrong because we won the league with 13 points. So, this was the sweetest one,” Evra recalls.

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“We brought Robin van Persie, and it was important because it was the 20^th, the last of Sir Alex Ferguson, 20 league titles, Liverpool 19.”

Throughout Evra’s career, the left-back played with some great players across a 20-year-long career, though one player the Champions League winner admires is Paul Scholes.

On Scholes’ return from retirement, Evra said: “The story is crazy. Scholes retired and I start seeing him at the training ground and he said I’m keeping myself fit but he wasn’t training with us, he was training with the academy, and I remember one session he trained with us.

“We go to play vs Manchester City, and I see Scholesy come on the bus with the suit, but he stayed with the coaches on the bus. I say ‘Scholesy, what are you doing? Come on, man’, and he said: ‘I’m just part of the staff.’

“We came in the dressing room, and I see the shirt of Paul Scholes. That’s when we found out. Ferguson kept it secret. If you saw the players’ eyes, it was like we saw Santa.”

As has always been the case in football, every player divides opinion, with that becoming more notable in the current era of social media. Paul Scholes is no different.

Scholes is often compared to fellow English midfielders Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, and Evra believes his ex-teammate is somewhat underappreciated.

“Scholesy is not a flashy guy,” Evra said.

“When you ask me who’s the best player you played with at United, people expect me to say Cristiano Ronaldo or Wayne Rooney. It was Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes.

“He was the only player who never got the hairdryer by Sir Alex Ferguson. Never!”

Having one 25 major honours, including a staggering 11 Premier League titles and two Champions League titles, Scholes’ quality is recognised by his peers. 

Evra continued: “The new generation, you need to really understand football because Zidane, Vieira, when you ask them the best, they always say Paul Scholes. The quality, the diagonal he could do, he was another level, man.”

Oh, what Erik ten Hag would do to have a midfielder of that ilk as part of his current Manchester United side.

Written by Aadam Haladh.