Vidic set to join Ronaldo at Madrid in £20m deal?
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Vidic for Real! Manchester United defender set to join Ronaldo at Madrid in £20m deal
Real deal: Nemanja Vidic is poised to join Madrid at the end of the season
Real Madrid believe they have won the race to sign Nemanja Vidic and that he will follow his close friend Cristiano Ronaldo to the Bernabeu at the end of the season.
AC Milan looked to be edging towards a deal for the unsettled Manchester United defender after leading a chase that also involved their city rivals Inter and Spanish champions Barcelona.
But Sportsmail understands he is bound for Madrid in a £20million transfer that will end an increasingly uneasy relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson.
The United manager has been less than impressed with Vidic's longing for a move to southern Europe and its detrimental effect on his form this season.
Though the 28-year-old Serbia star has been troubled by injury, Ferguson has had misgivings about selecting him anyway when fit, due to concerns over the centre half's concentration.
Resigned to sanctioning Vidic's departure, Ferguson is prepared to accept £20m from Real and use it for reinforcements.
Replacement: Smalling will join United in the summer
Fulham's Chris Smalling has already been bought for £10m and will join in the summer, and United are looking closely at Benfica's David Luiz, Palermo's Denmark centre back Simon Kjaer and Porto's experienced defender Bruno Alves.
There were claims yesterday that Vidic has put his house up for sale, or is about to, in readiness for a move that will reunite him with Ronaldo, 12 months after the former United winger joined Real for a world-record £80m.
The pair developed a strong friendship at Old Trafford and were known to sit together on the team coach and discuss their long-term futures on the journey to games.
Though Vidic will be savouring the prospect of teaming up again with Ronaldo, Ferguson may be less enthralled at having his hand forced by a repeat scenario of a leading player agitating for a move and Real capitalising.
At the height of speculation linking Ronaldo with the Bernabeu last season, Ferguson famously growled: 'Do you think I'd do business with that lot? I wouldn't sell them a virus.'
He subsequently climbed down and accepted the inevitability of losing the Portugal star, just as he has reluctantly excluded Vidic from his plans for next season.
Signed from Spartak Moscow for £7m four years ago, the defender initially gave AC Milan cause for optimism by responding positively to their overtures, but he was eventually swayed by his wife Ana's preference for a move to Madrid.
Real sporting director Jorge Valdano has been working on a deal since before Christmas and is believed to have told the Bernabeu board that an agreement has been reached on a £20m fee.
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seriously what is this 2 players like if it werent for manutd. i'm wondering 5 years back who supported sporting lisbon? who supported Spartak Moscow? they owe their every little success to manutd for turning them to players they are today. how can they be so ungrateful. its so like using manutd to mark their beginning of their career and then join real as a long term career. inglorious bastard.
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Originally posted by Collectible:
seriously what is this 2 players like if it werent for manutd. i'm wondering 5 years back who supported sporting lisbon? who supported Spartak Moscow? they owe their every little success to manutd for turning them to players they are today. how can they be so ungrateful. its so like using manutd to mark their beginning of their career and then join real as a long term career. inglorious bastard.
Thats how football is evolving into, unfortunately.