Patrice Evra: Man Utd icon's crazy story of how playing with chicken in his boot led to move | OneFootball

Patrice Evra was a great servant to Manchester United.

The Frenchman established himself as a United icon after making the £5.5m move from Monaco in 2006.

He featured 379 times for the Red Devils, scoring 10 goals and helping the club to 14 trophies.

According to Evra, he may never have signed for United had he not decided to put chicken in his boot for four months prior to the transfer.

Evra told the crazy story in an interview with The Players' Tribune in 2019. He started: "The craziest part at Monaco came after I had played a game for the French U21 team. An opponent had stamped on my foot and damaged it badly. In hospital I told the Monaco coach, Didier Deschamps, “It’s too painful. I can’t play. I can’t even walk!”

"But the team needed me, so the doctors tried everything to take away the pain. Nothing worked. Then someone from the club staff said, “Why don’t you just go old school?”

"He said, 'Just slide a chicken down his boot.'

"It sounded crazy but, you know me, I’m open minded. So I went to my local butcher. The butcher said, 'What do you want?'

"I said, 'A piece of chicken. But just a tiny one.'

"He said, 'A tiny one? How come?'

"I said, 'I’m gonna put it in my boot.'

"He just laughed. I went home with the chicken. I ordered new boots: one in size 42.5, the other in size 44. I passed the ball. Oh. That felt O.K. Painful, but O.K. So I ended up playing with chicken in my boot for four months. I didn’t train with it — my mother would never have forgiven me for wasting food — but before every game I would visit the butcher.

"'Morning, Patrice. The usual, yeah?'

"The chicken enabled me to play so well that, in January 2006, I was signed by Manchester United."

It's crazy to think that Evra may never have established himself as a United legend and one of the best left-backs in Premier League history had he not put chicken in his boot after a foot injury.

1 of 20

Where was Ferguson born?

Glasgow Aberdeen Inverness Edinburgh