Top player
It could just be that Manchester United have made the best signing of the summer so far. They haven’t paid millions of pounds for a new striker or creative midfielder but they have re-signed centre-back Nemanja Vidic on a long term contract.
Speculation
There had been a huge amount of speculation that Vidic was unhappy at United and wanted to leave but that has now come to an abrupt end. Vidic said,
I know there was all this speculation but I never said I wanted to go. I always said I am happy here.
Injuries
This will be great news for United fans everywhere. The main reason that the club didn’t continue their run of Premier League titles last year was because of the injuries to key defenders Vidic and Ferdinand. It is not yet clear whether Rio Ferdinand will be fit enough to play much of a part but a fit and happy Vidic will go a long way towards shoring up a defence that looked penetrable last season for the first time in a while.
The twenty-eight year old Serbian international has become something of a folk hero at Old Trafford since he joined the club for £7million from Spartak Moscow back in 2006. He made his first pre-season appearance for United since a disappointing World Cup in the 7-1win against a League of Ireland representative team and is raring to go for the season.
Star
Vidic has always been a star player and has known a great deal of success. He was signed by Red Star Belgrade before he was fifteen and moved quickly through their youth ranks. At the age of eighteen he played a full season on loan at Spartak Subotica where he impressed with six goals in twenty-seven appearances.
On his return to Red Star he quickly established himself in the first team and was soon made team captain. In his three seasons with the club he made sixty-seven appearances and scored twelve goals. He led them to the Yugoslav cup, the Serbian Superliga and the Serbia and Montenegro Cup.
Expensive
His performances earned him a move to Spartak Moscow where he became the most expensive defender in Russian football history. After two seasons at the club where he made thirty-nine appearances and found the net four times he transferred to Manchester United where he has been ever since.
He has been at Old Trafford for five seasons now and has played nearly two hundred games for the club. His thirteen goals have helped them to three Premier League titles, three Carling Cup wins, the Champions League and the FIFA World Club title.
Selected
Individually, Vidic has three times been Serbia’s overseas player of the year, twice been Serbian footballer of the year, the Barclays player of the season, the Sir Matt Busby player of the year. He has been selected in the Premier League team of the year by his fellow professionals on three occasions and has also been selected once in the FIFPro World team of the year.
Internationally Vidic has made forty-eight appearances and scored two goals.
He was part of the famous Serbian defence that broke records by conceding just one goal in ten qualifying matches for the 2006 World Cup, as well as starting every game in the record breaking run of Manchester United keeping fourteen consecutive clean sheets in the 2008-09 season. You don’t get to be a record breaker like that at International and domestic level without being a truly great defender.
With a fit and happy Nemanja Vidic, Manchester United will have every chance of winning back their league crown this season.