EVRA MOVING ON?

Patrice Evra, along with Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic are a series of players that are very likely to be seeing their way out of the club at the end of the current season and the Serbian defender Vidic is even completing a deal with Inter Milan as he will be making his move to Serie A in the summer.

The French defender Patrice Evra, has now triggered a clause in his contract which will give him an extension at Manchester United. The clause of his contract was agreed back in February of 2011 which would allow him to get an extension with the Premier League club if he played a minimum number of games in the current season and he indeed has already reached that number.

The Manchester United defender is in his final year of his 3 year contract but now that he has managed on getting himself an extension, he will get the chance to decide where he will play next season. He has been linked with a possible move to his former club As.Monaco as well as Juventus, Inter Milan and PSG.

David Moyes has a busy transfer window ahead of him during the summer as he is going to begin a project that will see some of the older and higher earning members of the squad leaving the club and the Scottish club also has be on the lookout for possible young players that can fill in the gap that will be left by those senior and veteran players.

Inter Milan is completing their move for Nemanja Vidic but it is rumored that the new owner of the club, Erick Thohir wants to add Patrice Evra to his summer acquisitions as the Indonesian business man wants to reinforce the defence of the Italian team.

TIME TO GO?

Patrice Evra is coming to the end of his contract at Manchester United and there has been no sign of a new deal from the club. He is not the only player at United to enter into the final six months of his deal. Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic are in similar situations and it seems that new manager David Moyes does not want to continue the tradition of keeping the older players at the club. Ferdinand has been linked with a move abroad, while Vidic has been spoken of as a possible Barcelona target in the summer.

Evra, meanwhile, has been linked with a return to France with PSG showing a lot of interest. The French giants will be able to comfortably match the enormous wage demands of the international fullback, as he will provide a lot of experience to the team having won numerous league and cups. Evra will be 33 years old in the summer, which will be a major factor towards the Frenchman continuing his United career, which began in 2006 after a move from Monaco. Leighton Baines was a summer transfer target for United, but the club failed to get their player from Everton.

They are expected to return in January or in the summer with an improved offer.

Meanwhile, Nemanja Vidic has ruled out the possibility of signing an extension to his contract. The club option of extending Ferdinand’s contract by another 12 months, but they do not have any such clause inserted into the contract of Vidic, which was signed in 2010.

The defender received a red card in the dying moments of the 3-1 defeat against Chelsea, while Patrice Evra also appeared to suffer an injury and had to be taken off midway through encounter. United have already suffered seven defeats this campaign.

WHERE NEXT?

With the Frenchman Patrice Evra set to leave Old Trafford at the end of season, Manchester United are searching around for a replacement and reports are emerging suggesting that the English club are interested in signing the 22 years old Brazilian defender Alex Sandro.

Sandro made his move to Porto from Santos back in 2011 for a transfer fee believed to be around £8m. The Brazilian is the latest player in the wish-list of David Moyes who has also shown interest in signing Fabio Coentrao, Leighton Baines and Alberto Moreno as possible replacement of the 32 years old defender Patrice Evra. Read more »

NO MORE SLIP UPS

After dropping points in the match against Cardiff last weekend, Manchester United defender Patrice Evra said that the club cannot afford to drop any more points when they take on Tottenham at White Hart Lane on Sunday. They will be meeting an opposition who were beaten by Manchester City 6-0 only last weekend. Hence, they are expected to put in a spirited performance against the champions, but that should not stop the Red Devils from dropping any more points according to Evra. The French defender scored in the 2-2 draw against Cardiff from yet another set piece goal.

Despite being one of the shortest player from the pitch, the 32-year-old has been able to score most of his goals for United from set pieces. United come into the encounter on the back of an unbeatable, which has seen them carry on without a defeat for the last 11 matches. Since they have a relatively tough period in the next few weeks, three points at Tottenham will be of paramount importance. It will also help them stay in touch with Arsenal, who are already eight points ahead of them in the table.

“People always write Manchester United off. Remember last year people were saying the same then, but in the end we won the league by 13 (sic) points. People think I just say that to look good but it is the truth. Wait until the end of the season. Every game, every year is a challenge playing for Man United. We are strong. We have mentally strong characters. We have to show we love this team,” said Evra ahead of the match.

Evra has said that United cannot afford to drop any more points if they want to win the title. Tottenham looked extremely poor especially in defence as they were ripped apart by City.

POGBA WAS GREAT

French defender Patrice Evra has said that Manchester United lost a great player when they could not hold on to the services of Paul Pogba, who definitely for Juventus on a free transfer in 2012. The midfielder was one of the greatest players to come from the United academy. He was often compared with Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira as he had the qualities of both players. Yet, Ferguson’s refusal to give him a starting spot in the match against Blackburn cost the club their ability to retain the 20-year-old French international.

He is developing into one of the best midfielders in the world at Juventus. His international teammate Evra has said that Pogba would have been a great player for United because it is very difficult to find a player that has all the attributes as the 20-year-old. According to Evra, Pogba is someone who does not have the physical presence alone, but has the aggression and technical ability to match his presence in the centre of midfield. Pogba has discovered another side to his game by scoring a lot of goals for Juventus this season.

Pogba has been included in the French squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifier against England and also the friendly against Australia. Pogba recently scored the only goal of the game in the 1-0 win over Torino.

“His [Pogba’s] talent on the pitch, his aggression, his presence, is very rare. He very quickly earned the respect of players like Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes. It’s true that have you have to win over the manager too, but to have won the dressing room like he did [was impressive]. It was truly a huge loss when he left the club,” said the former Monaco defender. “Against Blackburn, on December 31, 2011, I was on the bench. Ferguson puts Rafael in midfield with Ji-Sung Park. Then I gave up. I was really bummed,” said Pogba after leaving United.

WILL EVRA STAY?

Patrice Evra might be leaving Manchester United this summer if David Moyes manages to bring the Everton defender Leighton Baines at Old Trafford.

Evra has been United’s first choice left back since a long time, but, he might fell behind in the pecking order with Baines’ arrival and he doesn’t want that.

However, it’s still not certain whether Baines will sign for United or not. David Moyes had made Everton an offer of 12 million Pounds, but, the Toffees rejected that offer. According to the reports, they want 16 million Pounds for their star defender.

Evra has been brilliant for Manchester United over the years. He has put up a lot of world class performances for the Red Devils and has also won a lot of trophies.

Evra is also a very popular figure in United’s changing room. With his huge experience, he is a great help to the younger guys.

But, in the last couple of seasons, Evra’s form has been under the scanner. He hasn’t performed that poorly, but, he has certainly not been at his best.

Evra’s former club Monaco has shown interest in him and the French veteran might accept their offer.

Evra played for Monaco for 4 years between 2002 and 2006 and was quite successful for them. He had made more than 100 appearances for the Ligue 1 side in those 4 years.

In January 2006, Monaco sold Evra to United. The Red Devils had paid a transfer fee of 5.5 million Pounds for buying Evra.

At the start of his Manchester United career, Evra had to face some difficulties to get used to the English conditions, but, he worked hard and improved his game to break into the starting XI of United.

Evra has so far played 233 matches for United and has netted 7 times.