Thursday, 17th April, 2014
Manchester United defender Chris Smalling has described club captain Nemanja Vidic as ‘benchmark of being a real defensive force’ and accepts that the club will miss the Serbian when he leaves at the end of the season to join Inter Milan.
Vidic joined Manchester United in January 2006 from Spartak Moscow and took over as the club captain from Gary Neville at the start of the 2010/11 season.
Smalling praised his captain for his long and trophy-filled stay at the club and believes that Vidic has become a benchmark for young defenders at Manchester United who hope to take over from the Serbian strong man.
"Nemanja has been here a long time and produced so many great performances and won a lot of trophies”, the 24-year-old told Inside United.
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“He's set the benchmark in terms of being a real defensive force and, although it won't be easy, we'll do our very best to fill that void.”
Vidic’s first lesson of defending is that a defender’s job is ‘first and foremost is to defend’ and that is something Smalling said that he has learned from the Serbian.
"One thing he has always told me is 'defend first'. When you're defending, it's always nice to clear a ball by playing it out with a nice pass or set us away on an attack.
“But at the end of the day you're a defender and your job first and foremost is to defend. Therefore, you have to stop whoever you're playing against no matter what. I'll always remember that."
Since joining Manchester United in 2006, Vidic has made 296 appearances for the club, winning five Premier League titles and a Champions League crown in 2008.
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