Nemanja Vidic needs more time, says Roberto Mancini

New Inter Milan manager Roberto Mancini reckons that defender Nemanja Vidic needs more time to adapt in the Italian Serie A.

The manager has had to defend the Serbian who joined the club only in the summer. He was expected to bring some much-needed confidence, quality, and experience to the back four. His start to life in Italy has been extremely poor as Vidic has found himself on the wrong end of several goals conceded by his team.

This led to the 33-year-old immediately being dropped for Mancini’s first match in charge against arch-rivals AC Milan.
There have been suggestions that Vidic may be sold immediately since he does not seem to have settled well in Italian football. A potential return to Manchester United has so far been spoken given that his former club could certainly do with some bodies in defence. Mancini has not used Vidic in the first-team saw far. The defender’s last appearance in an Inter Milan shirt came in the 2-2 draw against Hellas Verona, which also turned out to be the last match for manager Walter Mazzarri. The former Napoli boss was shortly sacked afterwards and Mancini was brought as his replacement for a second spell at the club.

“I’ve known [Vidic] since the two of us were in Manchester and I’m sure he’ll be useful to us.It’s quite normal to encounter difficulties coming here because Italian football is totally different to the Premier League,” said Mancini. Meanwhile, former Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien recently said that Manchester United were defensively struggling because of the void left by Vidic. It is looking highly unlikely that United may be interested in getting Vidic in this kind of form. At 33 years of age, Vidic may potentially consider finishing his career in his home country, Serbia, in the next few years.