Patrice Evra claims he felt as though he was in “an interview with the FBI” as he revealed how Sir Alex Ferguson convinced him to sign for Manchester United over Liverpool.
Evra eventually won five Premier League titles, three League Cups and the UEFA Champions League in an outstanding eight-year spell at Old Trafford.
The full-back had offers from some of the biggest teams in Europe after a breakthrough campaign with Monaco, including Liverpool.
But the former France international chose to join United after he explained how he “felt something special” from Ferguson in his meeting with the United legend, joking that he thought he might “kill me” if he turned down his advances.
“Sir Alex spoke with my agent and we met at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris,” Evra told Rio Ferdinand’s Vibe with Five YouTube channel.
“He didn’t speak French so it was more David Gill [negotiating]. My English wasn’t great so my agent was translating.
“I remember he was asking questions like, ‘do you drink?’ ‘No.’ Do you like to go out?” “Sometimes.’ ‘Are you ready to not lose a game?’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘Are you ready to not even draw a game?’ ‘Yeah’.
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“I feel like it was an interview from the FBI. And when I shook his hand – everything I say I was like, ‘I’m ready – if I let him down this man is going to kill me’, so it was really impressive,” he added.
“Before United came my agent said we had Liverpool, Inter Milan, and United. I remember my agent was so excited and saying, ‘Patrice, it’s Manchester United’.
“I was watching United because of Eric Cantona, so this was a big influence [on me], but when I met [Ferguson] you feel something special.
“If you do well for this man you will win and achieve things for this club.”
