Patrice Evra and His BFF, The Prince

So how do you get your boss to let you out of your contract?

If you’re Manchester United’s (and sometime Bleus) left-back Patrice Evra, you talk to the prince of course! (Laurie’s mental shift here: Not Prince Beckham. That’s my other blog.)

If you needed more proof that soccer players are different from you and me, the story of how Patrice came from Monaco to ManU is not your standard one. Seems Patrice really, really wanted to leave Monaco, but was told that he’d have to play out the two years left on his contract. So what did Patrice do?

Well, first you have to keep in mind here that Monaco plays in the French ligues, but it’s a sovereign country with reigning monarchs, etc. (This wouldn’t work at, say, Salt Lake.) But when Patrice was shot down by the Monaco team management, he went and talked to Monaco’s Prince Albert, one of the team’s biggest supporters. Prince A talked to team, and Voilà! Patrice is in Manchester. (And hating the food. But that’s a different story.)

Patrice is having a fantastic season at United this year. So fantastic, in fact, that all the articles I read that mention him do so in the context of “Gabriel Heinze is so ticked that Evra has taken the starting position that he’s leaving.” Not so good for Gabriel, but great for Patrice.

(Actually, most of the articles that show up in my inbox mentioning Evra aren’t about Patrice at all, but about the Ortho-Evra birth control method. Which gives all of my information about Patrice a somewhat surreal tinge. But I digress.)

I personally don’t see Patrice taking the starting left-back position for Les Bleus as long as Eric Abidal is on the scene and healthy and playing for Lyon, but what do I know? Stranger things have happened, and Patrice really does look good this season.

Looking forward to Domenech’s Team List on Thursday.