Revealed: FBI-like interview with Ferguson convinced Patrice Evra to choose Man United over Liverpool

In an interesting revelation, Manchester United legend Patrice Evra has revealed how former boss Sir Alex Ferguson persuaded him to choose to join the Red Devils over Liverpool in 2006 after comparing their first meeting to 'an interview with the FBI'.

The Frenchman, who spent eight years at Old Trafford and won five Premier League championships, three League Cups, and the Champions League, will go down in Manchester United folklore as one of the team's all-time greats. 

Yet Evra has admitted that he might have left for Liverpool, United's bitter rivals, if not for Sir Alex's persuading methods at a Paris airport. The former full-back joked that the Scot made him feel like he would 'kill him' if he let him down.

During a breakthrough campaign at Monaco, Evra remarked on how Sir Alex's directness and rigour impressed him.

"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," Evra continued.

"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"," he added.

"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," the Frenchman jokingly said.

"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," he continued.

"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," Evra stated.

Evra's choice to stay in the northwest proved crucial to United's success as he rose to become one of the finest full-backs in the world during that time.

Evra's United career, however, came to an early end when Ferguson decided to step down as manager in 2013, as he only played under David Moyes for one season before being released by the team.

The Frenchman later joined Juventus of Serie A, winning three Italian league championships and two Italian cups.

He eventually returned to France with Marseille before choosing to join West Ham and playing in the Premier League once more before retiring in 2019.

After describing Sir Alex's severe treatment of Nani in 2011, Evra had previously commented on his strict management style.

He described how Jamie Carragher delivered a crushing tackle to the former winger, and despite the man crying, the Scot was still incensed.

"You remember Anfield when Nani got tackled by Jamie Carragher?" Evra told Ferdinand on his show earlier this month.

"I remember he got butchered he nearly broke his leg. We started fighting with Liverpool players, Steven Gerrard, and then Scholsey [Paul Scholes] came and he saw Nani crying. He said "f*** that, let's go," the Frenchman added.

"After that Ferguson gave him two weeks off because he says he needed to recover from that because we were waiting for him because in that team we didn't care we were ready to kill him. Because you know someone crying at Anfield... and even Ferguson, you remember when he said: "I hope your legs are f*****g broken I really hope your legs are broken"," Evra added.

"Ferguson always wanted to kill Nani when he was falling on the floor, saying you can't be a United player and doing that," Evra concluded.