OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL: Patrice Evra leaves Juventus, signs with Olympique Marseille

Turns out the last club to be thrown out there as a possible destination for Patrice Evra turned out to be where Mr. I Love This Game is going to be playing his ball next.

The 35-year-old Evra is a Juventus player no more after his move to Olympique Marseille was announced by the French club on Wednesday night, a few mere minutes after the final whistle sounded at Juve’s Coppa Italia quarterfinal victory over Milan. Evra, who had not been called up for the last handful of Juventus games while he figured out his future plans, was going to be out of contract this summer.

Other than Evra signing an 18-month contract that will see him play with Marseille until the end of the 2017-18 season and there being an introductory press conference on Thursday, there were no details of the deal announced.

He must still love this game. He’ll just be doing so in his native land and probably speaking a lot more French than he did during his time in Turin.

Evra — who arrived at Juventus on a free transfer from Manchester United in the summer of 2014 — reportedly flew out earlier in the day on Wednesday to complete his move back to his homeland. Before that, Evra had been linked to a handful of clubs as he decided his future. There was talk of Valencia in Spain, Crystal Palace possibly a return to Manchester United in England and Lyon and even his former club Monaco.

No matter what, though, ‘Uncle Pat’ brought his wealth of European experience to Italy and was largely successful along the way. He wasn’t great during his final half-season with Juventus, but he provided quite a solid bridge from the Antonio Conte days of using Kwadwo Asamoah as a left wingback and Alex Sandro taking over the full-time starting role as a left back. So thank you for that, Pat. And thank you for loving this game.