Vidic

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Hearing quite a few stories about Anzhi being interested in Vidic, from what I've read from a reliable source it's serious! Silly fee of £33m is being quoted but I think it's more likely to be £10m less than that.

What would everyone do then, sell now for a big fee or keep him and hopefully get another 2 to 3 good years out of him?

Personally, if we could get £23m~ for him I'd take it. He's our captain and a great defender but he's on the verge of turning 31, had his injury problems and realistically we'll only get 2 - 3 more top years out of him if he stays fit. Providing the money was spent on Hummels or Subotic, I'd call it good business.

[Bestie]

No chance.

We keep Vidic until he cannot do it anymore, he is vital to us.

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Oct 14, 2012 20:24:41 GMT Bestie said:

No chance.

We keep Vidic until he cannot do it anymore, he is vital to us.

You say that but he's barely played in the last year and we've still done well. We may not have looked as solid but I'd put a lot of that down to VDS not being there anymore and the amount of injuries we've had.

Got a funny feeling that Fergie will cash in on him. There were the stories that suggested we were willing to sell him this summer but then he got injured, so with his further injury problems, I think it could be another perfect bit of timing from Fergie if he does go!

[Bestie]

You can't keep playing Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes then sell Nemanja bloody Vidic. That would be insane. Timing has nothing to do with anything, he's still our best central defender and the best in the country, if not the World. Kompany is the only guy who comes close in the Prem.

We should not sell him, he should retire with us. Why weaken ourselves in a position where we actually have a load of quality?

[fletchabey]

No chance, as Fergie himself has said, all the injuries seem to hit our defenders these days so we need to keep what we have.

[Raf's Hairdryer Treatment]

To replace him like for like would easily cost > £30M so that Anzhi figure doesn't seem all too unrealistic, especially when you consider how much we paid for both RVP and Young when they only had a year left on their deals.

We have to give him a chance to get back to full fitness because when he is fit, he's the best bar none. Subotic, Hummels, and even Kompany can't touch a fully fit Vidic. Worth the gamble in my opinion, considering we should have 4 fit CBs available before the January window.

Also if other United players are anything to go by, we could get another 4 years out of him. By which time hopefully Jones will become one of the best in the world.

[jimbonda]

vida should only be sold if the Boss thinks he's declined to the point where it's time to replace him. only a return to fitness and a run in the side is going to give us the answers.

one factor is if he's gonna have a constant fight with injuries on his hands and how he copes with it, a la ferdinand.

we missed him last season. red nev put together a video package of crucial goals we conceded, and an inability to win a header in the buildup - headers he claimed vida would have won. also red nev said he was the best center half he's ever played with, which is interesting since we tend to debate between him and stam.

there's also the issue of moving a player on to get the next lot in for the future, but smalling and jones don't seem to have enough fitness or games between them where we can say 'they are ready'. subotic seems to always be on the rumour list.

we'll have to see. fingers crossed for vida.

[Deleted]

Keep for certain unless we were offered really stupid money (I'm talking upwards of 40 million) AND given a 100% guarantee that every last penny of it will be available for the gaffer to spend, AND to see us use it to sign a couple of quality, proven, top class players, NOT 7 or 8 young unknowns who mainly turn out shit.

And I get selling Vidic to replace him with a "quality, proven, top class player" seems redundant seeing as Vidic already is a "quality, proven, top class player", but I'd imagine most people would accept Vidic leaving and, for arguments lets say, Hummels and Di Rossi coming in for the money we received, would surely strengthen our team?

[redcase]

If selling Vidic brings in somebody like Hummels, then I wouldn't mind. If and only If.

Before I get roasted, let me explain. I fully agree with everybody here that no defender on the planet can touch a fully fit Vidic. But that's the point isn't it? He has not been fit for more than a year and he never will be back to old form. That's what a knee injury does to you. You cannot undo it. It will never heal to its past levels. Also, has anybody else noticed the loss of bulk from the man? He just isn't that intimidating. It used to be that a mere look at the man and it was enough to know that keeping your distance from him would be in your best interests. I know the bulk can be put back on though and I am sure they are working on that. But it is his knees I am worried about. We cannot have TWO main defenders who are on and off with injuries. Just cannot. One is bad enough (Rio). Also, Vida is 31 (?) Not past his sell by date by any means, but he will take time to get back to his best after his injury problems so safe to say by then he'll be approaching 33.

Having said that, Vida has all the capabilities of coming back strong and at least reach somewhere around the mark he set two years ago. He can. He is that good. But whether he does or not is uncertain. I thought Hargreaves would be back too.

In the meantime, looking for another top class central defender would not be a bad idea. At least then we can have some cover for Rio and be prepared for the time when he does leave.

[Deleted]

I don't think Vidic will actually get back to his best - I think that injury he had in the champions league last year has seen to that

[alt]

To be honest, I think I've been open to the idea due to his lack of playing time in the last year. Whilst it's been noticeable that we've been less solid at the back recently, I think that's more down to our goal keeping situation and continuous change of personnel.

If we could buy Hummels who's probably the best young centre half in Europe as a direct replacement, it'd give us a player to base the defence around for the next 10 years. This is what we've really lacked for a while now due to injuries. Rio's on his last legs, Vidic may never recover to the player he used to be, Jones / Smalling have been plagued by injuries since joining and although Evans has done a great job, I'm still not 100% sure about whether he can be a world class performer week after week.

[Jayrannasaurus]

It would only be plausible if we were guaranteed a Hummels/Subotic as replacement, otherwise we haven't got enough depth to see this happen, Fergie obviously knows this too.

Also, we'll have to replace Vidic and Rio with at least one world class defender at some point, and by that I don't mean Evans, Smalling or Jones. All of them are talented, extremely skillful and quality players but they've not reached the level I'm referring to. An established, classy, international regular for a top side. Or else someone Eastern European, either way Subo/Hummels would fit like a glove.

[Deleted]

Oct 14, 2012 21:56:26 GMT jimbonda said:

vida should only be sold if the Boss thinks he's declined to the point where it's time to replace him. only a return to fitness and a run in the side is going to give us the answers.

one factor is if he's gonna have a constant fight with injuries on his hands and how he copes with it, a la ferdinand.

we missed him last season. red nev put together a video package of crucial goals we conceded, and an inability to win a header in the buildup - headers he claimed vida would have won. also red nev said he was the best center half he's ever played with, which is interesting since we tend to debate between him and stam.

there's also the issue of moving a player on to get the next lot in for the future, but smalling and jones don't seem to have enough fitness or games between them where we can say 'they are ready'. subotic seems to always be on the rumour list.

we'll have to see. fingers crossed for vida.

Vida probably hasnt called him a "busy cunt" though lol.

I dont think we should sell him.He is the best CB in Europe and our Captain.Though the constant specualtion suggests its not complete fantasy.

Who would we sell next?Rooney/DDG?All this after Nani is sold of course.If asked last season who our most valuable assets were, most would have answered Nani, Rooney and Vidic as the only World class performers at the club and now there is heavy speculation linking 2 of them away.

Who is writing these stories?Man Citys PR department?

[Jayrannasaurus]

Areba, I think most of us are thinking hypothetically, we're all unanimous in how good a player he is.

The reality is he's 31 in a week so at some point he'll either be moved on or assume Rio's role in senior defence. If he's sold it'd have to be for a replacement, if not then he stays. If, however, he comes back and the knees are clearly going, or never reaches that level again, that's another story.

[Jayrannasaurus]

sportwitness.ning.com/forum/topics/manchester-united-captain-buys-flat-for-father-of-friend-who-pass

He seems such a good lad too; Captain.