Manchester United Making A Mistake Letting Vidic Leave

Manchester United have seen three of their ageing players enter their final year of the contract; centre-back pairing Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdiannd, and the evergreen left-back Patrice Evra.

The best amongst the three has been the Serbian defender, in my eyes, who has been a key figure in the heart of United's defence since he move to Old Trafford from Spartak Moscow in 2006. Vidic had earlier confirmed that he would leave the Premier League champions and have now officially announced that he will join Inter Milan next season.

Vidic, 32, still has close to two years of top flight football left in him for me, while Ferdinand, at 35, could be his final year in the Premier League. With the United skipper still having a lot of top flight football left, has David Moyes made a mistake? Is Vidic's departure similar to that of Jaap Stam's?

The whole question surrounding Vidic's move to Inter is whether United have repeated a previous mistake, which happened in Stam's case. But before that, we should just do a recap related to Stam's United career.

The former United manager Sir Alex Ferguson signed the big Dutchman from PSV Eindhoven in 1998. In his debut season at the club, the Dutchman helped secure the treble in 1999 - winning the Premier League, the FA Cup and the Champions League.

In the next two following seasons, Stam added two more Premier League medals to his tally as a United player, before he joined Lazio in 2001. The central defender joined the Italian club, similar to that of Vidic, while he was in late 20's.

Vidic on the other hand is 32 and has won almost everything possible except the FA Cup. He was the key figure in United's third and so far the last Champions League triumph in 2008.

The two defenders left the club when they still had top flight football left in them. With Ferdinand unable to play week in week out, Moyes is currently left with Jonny Evans, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling as the first choice centre-backs in the squad.

United will probably invest in the summer in finding a replacement for Vidic. However, Moyes is unlikely to find a player of Vidic's calibre, who was a fighter and a leader on the pitch. The Serbian was one who used to lead the club and has done his job extremely well.

Vidic used to ease the pressure off from his centre-back partner, while allowing players like Evans, Smalling and Jones to settle down quickly in the back four. United have made a mistake in allowing their skipper leave for free, instead should have handed him a new two-year contract.

Vidic's experience and his presence in the squad could have been vital for Moyes. However, the former Everton manager decided to allow the defender leave. One needs to wait until summer to find if the Scot will find a direct replacement, who can walk into the team and command that respect like how Vidic has done over the years.

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