Evra retires from football

By Football Italia staff

Former Juventus left-back Patrice Evra has announced his retirement from professional football. “I’ll be ready to coach a team in 18 months.”

Evra had been without a club since leaving West Ham United last year, and the 38-year-old is ready to pursue a career in management.

“My playing career has officially ended,” he told Gazzetta dello Sport.

“I started a course for my UEFA B license in 2013. Now I want to finish it and then move on to my UEFA A.

“In short, I’ll be ready to coach a team in 18 months.”

The Frenchman worked with some of the game’s top Coaches, including Didier Deschamps, Sir Alex Ferguson and Max Allegri.

“Everyone I worked with gave me a lot in my career, but in different ways. Salvioni, who coached me at Nice, taught me how to be humble.

“He convinced me to play as a left-back, which I thought was limiting because I preferred to play further forward.

“Deschamps taught me that winning was the most important thing, while with Ferguson I realised winning was only normal.

“I see Sir Alex as a father, he took me as I am - sometimes a leader, sometimes arrogant.”

He then paid particular tribute to Allegri, calling him ‘a tactical master’

“He was a surprise, a great surprise: he’s a tactical master. I’ll give an example.

“In 2015, in the Champions League knockout rounds, we beat Borussia Dortmund 2-1 in Turin.

“Before the second leg, Max showed us a video of the Germans’ weaknesses. He’d guessed them all: I’ve never played such an easy match.

“On the field, exactly what he told us at the pre-match meeting happened. We didn’t win 3-0 so smoothly by chance.”

Finally, Evra was asked whether Romelu Lukaku should join Juve or Inter.

“I don’t know. I’d always say Juventus, but I have to say one thing: if in Turin there’s an opponent they’re really afraid of, it’s not Napoli but Inter.

“And this season, with an excellent coach like Conte, who particularly did wonders at the helm of the national team, the fight for the title will be fascinating.”

The defender made over 700 appearances during his career, lifting seven League titles with Manchester United and the Old Lady.

He reached three Champions League Finals, winning the first with United, and played 81 times for France, with whom he was a finalist at Euro 2016.

Evra started out at Sicilian side Marsala in 1998 and even had a stint with Silvio Berlusconi’s Monza the following season.

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