United worry about Vidic's fitness for summer tour

MANCHESTER UNITED  hopes a sciatica problem will not force captain Nemanja Vidic  to miss its three-week tour to Asia and Australia.

Nemanja-Vidic

MANCHESTER UNITED flew to Bangkok without Nemanja Vidic amid concern about a sciatica problem that the club hopes will not force the captain out of its three-week tour to Asia and Australia.

Having trained without any obvious complications over most of the past week, Vidic was a surprise absentee as a 19-man squad boarded a flight to the Thai capital, the first stop in a gruelling tour that comprises visits to Sydney, Yokohama and Osaka in Japan, and Hong Kong.

The Barclays Premier League champions have had carefully to manage Vidic, who has just entered the final 12 months of his contract, since the 31-year-old defender returned to action last December after recovering from the second of two operations on his right knee, to which he first suffered a triple rupture and then meniscus damage.

Robin van Persie, David De Gea and Antonio Valencia are expected to join up with the squad in Sydney on Monday after they were granted extended leave because of prior international commitments.

Tottenham Hotspur have made an informal inquiry about Nani, whose future at United remains shrouded in uncertainty, but the Portugal winger is thought to have signalled that he would not be interested in moving to White Hart Lane.

United offered Nani a new contract several months ago, when Sir Alex Ferguson was still manager, but the player has since entered the final 12 months of his existing deal and an agreement over a new one has still to be reached, with Anzhi Makhachkala, Roma and Galatasaray interested in the winger.

David Moyes, the manager, is hoping to make a breakthrough in his pursuit of Thiago Alcantara, the Barcelona midfielder, and Leighton Baines, the Everton left back, over the next week and revealed that he had been to Wayne Rooney's house recently as the manager attempts to reassure the England striker that his future is best served at United.

"Don't be kidded by the lack of activity," Moyes said. "Take it from me, we are working very hard behind the scenes to try and improve the squad."

Rooney, who has impressed Moyes and his team-mates with the intensity with which he has started pre-season training, was the first person that United opted to follow yesterday (Wednesday) when they launched their official Twitter feed - @ManUtd.

"I have met Wayne two, three, four times," Moyes said. "A lot has been said about myself and Wayne over the years, but we have a really good relationship. He came to my house, I have been to his recently to have a chat.

"They are telling me it is the best shape they have seen him in for a long time. I am taking it as a positive and am going to try and get the best Wayne Rooney I possibly can."

The Times