Evans' Family Of Massive Reds Watched United When He Was At Sunderland

Jonny Evans has been receiving plenty of praise over the past few weeks, with some people even claiming Rio Ferdinand, when he returns, will have a job pushing Evans out of the team.

Not long ago, Evans wished he’d been allowed to stay at Sunderland, wanting first team football. After breaking in to the first team and getting plenty of games, Evans is delighted he’s still at his boyhood club. 

“When Sunderland came in for me it was a case of me wanting to play first team football,” said Evans. “Manchester United said no to Sunderland and I understood that and I was happy about it. I am a big Manchester United fan and have been all my life. All my family are huge United fans. My dad hasn’t missed a game for five years at Old Trafford. He wouldn’t even miss a United match to come and watch me play at Sunderland. So it has always been a dream to play at Manchester United. I had to give myself time to realise that dream. But I will always be grateful to Sunderland for the experience they gave me up there. It has certainly stood me in good stead for what I am experiencing now at United.”

Evans has reflected on his time at Sunderland, claiming it was more difficult that what he now faces at United.

“It was actually tougher to play in a relegation battle last year with Sunderland in the Premier League than it is playing for United at times,” he added. “I played 15 games last season for them in a really tough relegation battle. You are defending against the likes of Chelsea and you don’t have the same kind of top players I have around me or in front of me at United. So I learnt a lot last year. It gave me the confidence to play Premier League football. It has been a big bonus now I am back at United. For instance, I played against Didier Drogba last week for United, but I had already played against him for Sunderland when they were fighting for the league and we were fighting relegation. It was a big learning experience and certainly helped me when we played Chelsea recently.”