Ferdinand hails Vidic following the Serbian’s retirement

Rio Ferdinand has hailed Nemanja Vidic as his favourite ever centre-back partner following the former Manchester United captain’s retirement.

The duo formed one of the best defensive partnerships in Premier League history during their seven and a half seasons at the heart of United’s defence, helping the club win five league titles, three league cups and one Champions League.

Rio Ferdinand has hailed Nemanja Vidic as his favourite ever centre-back partner following the former Manchester United captain’s retirement.

The duo formed one of the best defensive partnerships in Premier League history during their seven and a half seasons at the heart of United’s defence, helping the club win five league titles, three league cups and one Champions League.

On Friday, Vidic announced he is hanging up his boots and Ferdinand has taken to Facebook to explain what made the Serbian such an outstanding partner to play alongside.

Ferdinand wrote: “I’m always asked about our partnership – did you do specific training etc….?

“Not really no, it was something that just worked very naturally. He was very aggressive, loved attacking the first ball in or out of the box, getting right into the opposing strikers & I liked the sweeping up and covering type stuff. But our partnership brought out the best in our games and made us strive harder to be the best.

“My favourite partner to play alongside? YES.

“He became a defender that was feared. He could fight with the most physical, he crunched into tackles, and he attacked the ball better than anyone I’ve ever seen.

“But as he will tell you with a smile, he could also play with the ball too, which made him complete & a great defender. Because he was so good in the aggressive/attacking the ball areas people probably looked over his ability with the ball to his annoyance!”

Vidic arrived at United for a fee of £7m in January 2006 but he was not an immediate success at Old Trafford.

The Serbian was signed along with Patrice Evra, who arrived from Monaco in the same month, but both initially struggled to win over the United fans.

Ferdinand revealed those outside the squad were not the only ones to doubt Vidic’s ability early in his United career – but his team-mates did not realise the determination their future captain had within himself to succeed.

“‘Where is he from?’ ‘He is well out of his depth.’ These were the type of comments flying around the training ground after the 1st few training sessions we saw Vida!” Ferdinand revealed.

“So to see what an unbelievable force he became while at Man Utd means the work he committed himself to physically and mentally is truly huge.

“You have to remember he was playing against great strikers (Cristiano Ronaldo, Robin van Persie, Saha, Wayne Rooney) in training every day – a big step up from the players in the Russian league.

“But in a dressing room it’s a cold world where judgements are passed quickly without remorse – and Vida was judged! Vida is a deep thinker. He was then and he is now, so the questioning himself from all angles would have been frying his head the first few months at the club while struggling in training.

“He worked on his strength in the gym, worked out what was needed for him to succeed in the Premier League and then started to establish himself in our team.”