Chris Coleman has revealed that he tried to sign Nemanja Vidic for Fulham before he joined Manchester United in January 2006.
Vidic won five Premier League titles and a Champions League crown during his eight-year stay at Manchester United and made 300 appearances for the club.
Manchester United signed the Serbian from Spartak Moscow in January 2006, alongside another club legend, Patrice Evra, but Vidic could easily have ended up at another English club.
Coleman admits that he wanted to take the Serbian to Fulham and even spoke to Manchester United chief scout Jim Lawlor in order to impress upon him that Vidic was not yet ready for a move to Old Trafford.
But Lawlor stayed true to his convictions about the then young defender and Manchester United snapped him up in the winter of 2006.
Coleman told The Athletic: “I’d spoken to the agent and Mohamed Al Fayed was on board.
“He was sensational, only young but already a man. I knew Jim Lawlor, United’s chief scout, because we’d done our Pro Licence together out of Belfast.
“He’s a top boy.
“I said to him, ‘You can’t take him, he’s not ready for you, let him come to me for a few years, do well, then you can take him.’
“He was laughing. ‘No we’re taking him now.’”
Vidic left Manchester United for Inter on a free transfer in 2014 and retired from the game two years later.
