EVRA: MY DAYS AS A BEGGAR
PATRICE EVRA has revealed how he was forced to beg for money as a kid on the means streets of Paris.
The former Manchester United full-back came from such a poor family background that he was often reduced to asking strangers for cash simply to buy food.
But Evra, now 38, rose from the gutter to become a genuine star.
And he insists the experience helped make him the man he became – a French international capped 81 times by his country and a Champions League winner (below, with boss Sir Alex Ferguson).
He said: “I’ll be honest with you, it was a tough childhood. I’ve got many brothers and sisters – so it wasn’t easy living in the streets. Sometimes I wasn’t even able to have some food.
“I remember my brother Dominique was working at a Mcdonald’s and so I was going there and on his lunch break he was giving me his own food.
“I’m not scared to say that I’ve begged for money. I’ve been in front of shops and when I’ve seen some people I’ve said, ‘Can I have one euro?’
“Sometimes they gave me the money and sometimes not, just because I wanted to buy a sandwich.”
If life on the streets was a struggle, nothing could have prepared Evra for his United debut after Ferguson paid Monaco £5.5million to bring him to Old Trafford in January 2006.
He was substituted at half-time as United lost 3-1 to City at the Etihad.
Evra told the Official Manchester United Podcast: “I thought, ‘What the hell am I doing here? I was in Monte Carlo chilling, but here the football is so fast. Oh my God, you’re so done, Patrice. You should go back to Monte Carlo’.
“I went back to my flat with my agent and his wife, and my agent looked at me and said, ‘Patrice, I’m sorry. You’ll never make it, it’s too hard. You should stay in Monte Carlo’.
“That day I was so bad, so embarrassing.
“My agent was actually telling me I should have never gone to Manchester United!
“I received a big slap on my face. I thought I was a big player, but Ferguson gave me the hairdryer.
“It just made me realise that I would have to work really hard here if I wanted to be a United player.”
You can listen to the rest of the Patrice Evra interview from Monday evening, as well as previous UTD Podcast episodes, via the Manchester United website, App and all your favourite podcast platforms. Link: https:// www.manutd.com/en/official-podcasts