Rio Ferdinand reveals how Nemanja Vidic struggled after signing for Manchester United | OneFootball

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Nemanja Vidic is one of the greatest defenders to ever play for Manchester United. In his prime, the Serbian was an absolute machine at the heart of the Red Devils' defence and was pivotal to the dynasty that Sir Alex Ferguson built at Old Trafford in the 2000s. He was a striker's worst nightmare and regularly caused them problems.

In terms of centre-backs, the club have had very few better than Vidic, but according to his former partner Rio Ferdinand, he didn't actually get off to the best of starts at the club and Wayne Rooney was left feeling unimpressed by him early on. It's absurd to think that could have been the case now knowing the legacy the star went on to have in the Premier League, but that's what his former teammate revealed recently.

Speaking on the FILTHYFELLAS YouTube channel, Ferdinand spoke about Vidic's arrival at United, and it's pretty eye-opening, to say the least.

What did Rio Ferdinand say about Nemanja Vidic?

Despite Ferdinand and Vidic forming one of the greatest-ever centre-back pairings, the Englishman was initially sceptical of his new teammate and thought he struggled when he first joined United. During an episode on the FILTHYFELLAS YouTube channel where they were drafting Premier League legends, the Serbian came up in conversation and Rio was asked whether he was worried about his place in the Red Devils' starting lineup when Vidic was brought in.

He immediately shut that down, saying: "No. When he signed, and he will tell you this, he found it so hard. Forget playing in the Premier League, even in training."

He was quick to point out the level of talent that Vidic was forced to defend against in training, though, and it's safe to say there aren't many defenders in the world who wouldn't have struggled. He said: "You've got to remember, Louis Saha, one of the hardest to play against, bar none. Wayne Rooney, Cristiano [Ronaldo], [Ruud] Van Nistlerooy. These guys were better than what we'd play in the Premier League, and he said he couldn't breathe."

Facing off against talent like that in training almost every day would be enough to tire anyone out, and it was certainly a baptism by fire for Vidic once he moved to England. Rooney certainly wasn't impressed with the defender when he first joined United either, as Rio revealed.

Vidic wasn't the only United legend who struggled initially

It's wild to think one of the club's greatest-ever defenders really got off to such a poor start, but he wasn't the only one. Patrice Evra, arguably United's greatest-ever left-back also joined the club that January, and it turns out, he struggled early on too. It even got to the point where Ferdinand and Rooney were questioning who the manager had signed.

In the same episode, Rio said: "Same about [Patrice] Evra. Vidic and Evra signed in the same window, and we were all going like 'The manager's f**ked it'. I don't know what he'd done with recruitment. But they both ended up as United legends."

The initial struggles clearly meant very little as both men went on to have incredible careers at Old Trafford. Check out the clip and full episode below.

How did Vidic and Evra's United careers play out?

Despite those early growing pains, both Vidic and Evra went on to become legends in Manchester and were two of the most important figures in the United side during Ferguson's final years. Both men established themselves as two of the very best in their positions and have left legacies at Old Trafford that ensured their statuses as legends by the time they left the club.

Given the start that United have made to the current Premier League season, Erik ten Hag and most United supporters would undoubtedly wish they had two men of Evra and VIdic's quality lining up for them right now. The Red Devils are next in action against Burnley at 8pm on Saturday 23 September, hoping to get back on track after a disappointing start to the season.