Patrice Evra has insisted that it is too soon to draw comparisons between himself and Tyrell Malacia after Rio Ferdinand likened the Manchester United full-back to his old teammate - shortly after he dismissed similar comments comparing him to William Saliba.
Malacia marked his full Premier League with an impressive performance in Monday night's 2-1 win over Liverpool after he was given the nod ahead of Luke Shaw.
The Dutch full-back - who was Erik ten Hag's first summer signing - left Ferdinand purring after he managed to stifle one of the top-flight's most deadly attackers in Mohamed Salah, and the former United centre-back lavished praise on the 23-year-old after the match.
He told his Vibe with Five YouTube channel earlier this week: "Malacia today was tremendous, outstanding. He reminds me of Patrice Evra in many ways. He’s athletic, he looks like a pound-for-pound strong kid.
"There aren’t many left-backs in European or world football in the last four or five years who have gone out of a game and kept Mohamed Salah quiet. Luke Shaw’s going to have to do something to get back in this team now."
But Evra has cooled that talk and insisted it's far too soon to draw comparisons - a sentiment that Ferdinand himself recently echoed when he claimed Gary Neville's comments comparing Saliba in relation to himself were "a madness".
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Speaking in his role as a Betfair ambassador, Evra said: “People have been comparing Malacia to myself, and guys, when you compare to me, they need to be the best left-back in the world, the best left-back in the Premier League for at least four years and they need to win the league, so give him time.
“I'm asking fans to give him the same time that they have given to Luke Shaw. You can see the determination, he's hungry to play and also he wasn't selfish. Those are really important qualities as a left-back."
And Evra has urged the new boy, who tried to attack frequently against Liverpool, to make the most of his opportunities to bomb forward under Ten Hag to give himself the best possible chance of succeeding at Old Trafford.
“If I have to give him advice, it would be to make sure he finds the right balance between attacking and defending. I always say, the perfect left-back has that balance. If you attack too much people will say you don't defend, if you defend too much people will say you don't attack.
“He needs to find that balance and don't think about any comparisons with me. I want Malacia to be Malacia, not the new Patrice Evra. Luke Shaw had the same problem.
“This is my club, but I always want people and the fans to forget 'Patrice Evra'. If the fans still speak about me, I'm glad about it, but it means something is wrong. I wish Malacia well and I wish he makes people forget about Patrice Evra.”
