Fergie:
"He is a quick, aggressive centre-half and at 24 will be a terrific addition to the squad.
"He is a very good defender. He has good composure on the ball, is quick and has a good physique.
"All the parts are there. All we need to do is get him a crash course in English because he only speaks a few words. Once he learns the language, he will be fine.
"We've been watching him for some time now, I actually went to see him 3 years ago against France but he was only 20 at the time. In that particular game he played as a man-marker and it was difficult to assess him as we never play with a man-marker. I said at the time that I'd really need to see him in a back four. For the last couple of years he's been doing that for his national team, Serbia and Montenegro, and he's been very impressive.
The Indie:
The Glazer family may have a reputation for being the Premiership's Scrooges but the new owners of Manchester United sanctioned a £7m Christmas Day spending spree yesterday that allowed Sir Alex Ferguson to sign the highly sought-after Serbian defender Nemanja Vidic from Spartak Moscow.
In the biggest single pay-out for a player since the Glazers assumed control of United in May, the club paid close to Spartak's asking price of £8m to secure the services of the 24-year-old who has also been the subject of great interest from Liverpool. Rafael Benitez, the Liverpool manager, had identified the Serb as a potential new partner for Jamie Carragher at the centre of defence, but United's decisive intervention in the transfer talks last week will mean he has to re-think.
The transfer window does not open until Sunday, but Vidic will become a United player then, provided he completes a medical this week and agrees personal terms. His signing shows that Ferguson regards his defence in urgent need of strengthening with left-back Gabriel Heinze out for the entire season and the central partnership of Rio Ferdinand and Mikael Silvestre lacking the reliability of three years ago.
The Times:
Football clubs rarely stop while the rest of the world relaxes on Christmas Day and so it proved yesterday as Manchester United spent the day in negotiations with Spartak Moscow before agreeing an undisclosed fee for Nemanja Vidic, the Serbia and Montenegro defender.
Subject to agreeing personal terms and passing a medical, Vidic is expected to sign for United when the transfer window opens on January 1, although Liverpool might yet get involved.
Despite the transfer activity, Ferguson appears to recognise that it is too late to make a concerted challenge for this season’s Premiership title. Where once he would have predicted choppy waters ahead for his rivals at this time of year, he sees little prospect of the good ship Chelsea being blown off course.
A feisty response was expected when Ferguson was asked whether he shared the view that the title race was over, but, while his team have won seven of their past eight Premiership matches, he was less than defiant in his final pre-Christmas address at the club’s training ground.