MANCHESTER UNITED have ended the uncertainty surrounding Nemanja Vidic’s future by reaching agreement with the Serbia international over a lucrative contract extension. The as yet unsigned deal is expected to keep the 28-year-old at Old Trafford until 2014 and will be worth around €108,200 a week.
Vidic’s future at United has been under a cloud for several months and in June the player’s agent, Paolo Fabbri, claimed the defender would consider his options after the World Cup. Real Madrid and several Italian clubs had been linked with the commanding central defender, a €8.3 million signing from Spartak Moscow in 2006, although the feeling inside Old Trafford was he was angling to elevate Vidic to being among the highest earners at the club.
That will now be the case once the legalities of Vidic’s new contract are completed. United’s chief executive, David Gill, who claimed the media was responsible for the uncertainty and that the stories “didn’t come out of Nemanja’s camp”, is confident the deal will be signed before the start of the new Premier League season.
Gill said: “We sat down with Nemanja and his adviser at the end of last season and started discussions. They broke up when Nemanja went away to the World Cup, but resumed when Serbia were knocked out and I’m very pleased to confirm that we agreed terms with Nemanja three or four weeks ago on a new long-term deal with the club.
“It’s yet to be signed – the paperwork is now being sorted by our lawyers and being checked by Nemanja’s advisers. He’s still away on holiday but the plan is that when he gets back the papers will be signed. We’ve shaken hands on it and we’re confident it will all be signed and sealed in early August.”
Vidic’s commitment to Old Trafford will come as a major relief to Alex Ferguson, who conceded only on Wednesday night that he was awaiting clarification on the player’s future and could ill afford to lose the experienced defender at a time when Rio Ferdinand is recovering from a serious knee injury. The Serbian was given a 28-day holiday by United after the World Cup and is scheduled to make his first appearance of pre-season at the Aviva Stadium on August 4th. His current contract, worth €80,000 a week, is due to expire in two years’ time.
Ferguson has already strengthened his central defence this summer with the €14.4 million acquisition of Chris Smalling, who had agreed to the move from Fulham in January. The 20-year-old had made only 11 appearances for Fulham when both United and Arsenal bid for his services, a total of 19 before he officially moved to Old Trafford on July 1st, and, three years after his pre-season involved playing for Maidstone United while awaiting his A-level results, Smalling admits the transformation is hard to reconcile.
“It is beginning to sink in after games,” said the defender, who has appeared in United’s two pre-season friendlies this summer, against Celtic and Philadelphia Union. “At the minute I’m just playing how I normally do and I don’t feel too much pressure. I’m just enjoying being at a club like this and learning from the players around me.”
Smalling, one of only two summer signings by United so far, along with the €8.5 million Mexico forward Javier Hernandez, is confident an education alongside Vidic and Ferdinand will compensate for his lack of experience. “I don’t feel under pressure because there is quite a lot of young players that the manager is bringing through and he has done that regularly over the years,”
Smalling added. “I have watched over the years how Rio has progressed into one of the finest and hopefully I can start training with him soon when he returns to fitness and obviously we have Vidic to come back. There are some quality centre backs to learn my trade from.”
United, meanwhile, have taken the usual step for them of putting 4,000 season tickets on open sale. The chief executive of the Manchester United Supporters’ Trust, Duncan Drasdo, believes their availability is a clear indication of fans’ growing unrest with the ownership of the Glazer family and their willingness to take action over the club’s mountainous debt.
“Ticket demand has collapsed and the Glazers have to take a more realistic view of the value of the club because it is declining,” he said. “Demand has changed despite the success of the team. People are sick of the way they’ve been treated. The interesting thing is that in the documents the Glazers produced when they were refinancing, they boasted ticket prices would increase because the demand was so great.”
