Patrice Evra signs for West Ham on free transfer until the end of the season
West Ham have completed the signing of the veteran full-back until the end of the season
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Your support makes all the difference.West Ham United have signed former Manchester United full-back Patrice Evra on a short-term deal until the end of the current season, the club announced on Wednesday.
Evra, 36, was a free agent after leaving Ligue 1 side Marseille in November. His contract was cancelled after he kicked a supporter in the head before a Europa League game against Vitoria Guimaraes.
He was banned from European competition for the rest of the season by Uefa, but is available to play in the Premier League and links up once more with David Moyes, who briefly coached him at United.
“I’m really happy to be a Hammer, to be back in the Premier League and I love this game,” Evra told the club website shortly after the deal was completed.
“It’s amazing to be back and I am thankful to West Ham for giving me the opportunity to do my job. When I wake up and know I am going to work hard, to have fun with my teammates and give my best on the pitch, I want to say a massive thanks to West Ham, to the Chairman, to the manager to all my teammates, who have given me a nice welcome, my agent and my brother.
“I’m just happy to be here, it’s really simple. You don’t realise how lucky you are and just to wake up this morning and know I am going to train with my new teammates made me smile.”
Evra made 379 appearances for United during an exceptionally successful nine-season spell, during which he won five Premier League titles, the 2008 Champions League, three League Cups, five Community Shields and the Fifa Club World Cup.
After leaving United in 2014 he spent two seasons at Juventus, twice winning the league title, before moving to Marseille. However he struggled to nail down a spot in the French side’s first-team and left in ignominy after his altercation with a supporter.
He has been without a club since, but Moyes moved to sign the full-back to provide cover for his injury-hit squad.
“It happened really fast,” Evra said of the deal. “My agent called me and told me I needed to come back [from Dubai] to London as quick as I could and I had a nice meeting with the manager, who I know from Manchester United, of course, and I met the Chairman, so it was really easy.
“When you have to make a deal and money is not the issue, the deal could be done in five minutes. The main thing was for me to join West Ham and to help my teammates to win as many games as we can.
“It was the fastest thing I have done in my life, because both parties wanted to work together, so it was very easy to make an agreement.”
Evra bolsters a defence that is comfortably the oldest in the Premier League.
James Collins and Jose Fonte are both 34, while first-choice right-back Pablo Zabaleta turned 33 last month. Winston Reid and Angelo Ogbonna are both 29, while Aaron Cresswell – who will contend with Evra for the left-back spot in Moyes’ team – is 28.
West Ham currently sit 12th in the Premier League table, just three points ahead of Huddersfield in 19th.
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