Patrice Evra says his debut for Manchester United was such a disaster his agent apologised to him for arranging the transfer.
Evra joined United from Monaco for £5.5million in January 2006 and was thrown in at the deep end in the same month against Manchester City at Eastlands. City took a 2-0 half-time lead and Evra was replaced by Alan Smith at the interval.
City ran out 3-1 winners and Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off in United's third defeat in four at City, and Evra's struggles in his first months at the club cost the Frenchman a World Cup squad place in the summer.
Evra lined up against Liverpool the following week for Rio Ferdinand's added time winner following a deflating debut, and the more vivid memory is of his introduction to the Manchester derby.
"‘What the hell am I doing here?" Evra told the United podcast. "I was in Monte Carlo, chilling. Here the football is so fast. 'Oh my God, you’re so done Patrice. You should go back to Monte Carlo’. I remember thinking that and the worst part is when the game was finished.
"We go back to my flat with my agent and his wife, and my agent looked at me like this and said, ‘Patrice, I’m sorry’. I was like, ‘why?’
"‘I’m sorry to bring you here. You’ll never make it, it’s too hard, you should stay in Monte Carlo’. In front of his wife!
"That day I was so bad, so embarrassing. My agent actually telling me I should have never gone to Manchester United. So yeah, I have this tough moment, but it helped me to become who I am."
When asked which game he would relive, Evra replied: "My first game! My first game, because people ask me, ‘what's your best moment?’ And they expect me to say something.
"But I will say the derby, the first game, because everything was new, I receive a big slap on my face. I thought I was a big player! My agent didn't believe in me in front of his wife, Ferguson giving me the hairdryer…
“It just made me realise, ‘hey, you will have to work really hard here if you want to be a United player’. So that's the moment that I want to relive, because it was a hard moment, but such a positive moment."
