What if It Is Mrs. Vidic Who Wears the Trousers?

(Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

What is Nemanja Vidic's home life like these days?

Is the Serbian central defender being deprived of marital comforts? Is he sleeping on the couch? Is his dinner in the dog of an evening?

The speculation arises from the Vidic camp's reaction to gossip suggesting the player might be tempted by a £30 million transfer to an elite United rival.

The story begins with a good, old-fashioned Red-top scoop.

"My wife Ana is unhappy with our lifestyle in Manchester but I am not going to change my mind as I am happy with the team and Manchester and the club's ambitions,” the Sun newspaper reported Vidic as saying earlier this month.

“I got offers from Milan, Barcelona and Real Madrid and I played a very honest game - I disclosed all these offers to my boss Sir Alex.

“He reacted quickly. I was told he was raising my pay to bring it to the level where my reputation is in the Premier League and Europe.

“After Milan and Real Madrid made their offers, Barcelona came in - they wanted to pay £30m for my services, but after Sir Alex's move, I am definitely staying in Manchester until my contract expires in 2012.”

The Sun splash was a sensation, given the rumours that had circulated since the Spring of trouble chez Vidic.

In the summer tumult of record-breaking transfers, defections and dissatisfaction, here at last was a genuine Red-to-the-bone United superstar, happy to be at the club and likely to be rewarded handsomely in recognition of his emergence as one of the top 10 defenders in the world.

Then, Vidic's agent had to go and spoil everything!

"Even though Vidic has not spoken for the last three months, there have been false interviews published in the press,'' Silvano Martina told Gazzetta dello Sport.

"I read that he wants to leave, that his wife is not happy at Manchester but all of these stories are false.

"He is very annoyed and saddened by these stories that give the wrong impression. "In football you never know what can happen, but I believe he will remain at Manchester United, one of the strongest clubs in the world.

"If Vidic or I should have problems with the club (United), we will talk directly to Alex Ferguson and not to the newspapers.''

So those scoundrels of the fourth estate lied. Again! They made it all up in the pub over a fortified liquid lunch, scandalising Nemanja, wife Ana and son Luka. Something must be done to stop the purveyors of this terrible calumny.

Silvano Martina might have impressed in these litigious times, if his outrage was backed by a letter from m'learned friends, inviting the Sun to print a retraction or risk the consequences.

Perhaps the agent believed that a public denial of the Sun scoop was enough. It isn't for this correspondent. What if the Sun wasn't economic with the truth, after all?

To recap, point No. 1 in the newspaper's report confirmed that Vidic's commitment to the United outweighed the unhappiness of his wife. Point number two declared that he expects United to reward his fine form with a new pay deal.

This is hardly the 21st century's newspaper equivalent of the 'War of the Worlds.' Surely, the most reptilian of sports hacks, would have taken the Vidic's wife rumour and whipped up a tsunami of speculation to deliver a cracking Sun scoop with 'legs.'

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