Will Vidic lead a mass exodus in the summer?

Who will follow Vidic out of United?

These are ominous times indeed, for David Moyes and Manchester United. With an already ropey defense, the news that the club captain, Nemanja Vidic will leave Manchester United at the end of the season, would have been the last thing Moyes would have wanted to hear. And, irrespective of whether Anderson, now on loan at Fiorentina, actually said that “lots of players” want to leave the club, or not, the truth is that, the future doesn’t look too rosy for the 20-time League Champions.

In an interview with the club website, the Serbian center half stated that he wants to challenge himself again after eight hugely successful years at Old Trafford. It is looking increasingly likely that Vidic is set to move to Italy and Internazionale, who had earlier tried in vain to sign the Serbian, have emerged as strong favorites to sign the 32-year-old.

On his decision to leave the club, Vidic said: “It’s the last year of my contract and I have had eight wonderful years here. My time at this great club will always rank as the best years of my career. However, I have decided that I will move on at the end of this season. I want to challenge myself again and try to make the best of myself in the coming years.”

Vidic also added: “I’m not considering staying in England as the only club I ever wanted to play for here is Manchester United and I was lucky enough to be part of this club for so many years.”

Having been a mainstay in the center of defense ever since joining the club from Spartak Moscow in January 2006, Vidic’s performances have dipped in the past few years. In fact, since the start of the 2011/12 season, Vidic has only made 40 appearances in the League. And even in the games that he has taken part, he wasn’t his usual self, as was evident from his recent red-card against Chelsea, which was the sixth of his United career till date.

Whilst Vidic’s decision to move is somewhat understandable, having suffered two serious knee injuries in the past three seasons, the question on everybody’s lips is this, will be the first of many? And whilst it is true that Vidic isn’t what he used to be and recognizes that it is time for a change, who’s to say that more will not follow suit? With the captain of the club itself, deciding its time to move on, for whatever reason, who’s to say others might not take the same path?

The truth is that, Vidic’s decision to leave has been one that has been in the offing for a long time now. As they enter into the twilight of their career, the once mighty pairing of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic have fallen away in the last 18 months. The duo have started just six games this season, owing to pressing injury concerns for one or the other, at various points of time.

There has been absolutely no stability at the back, and, as a result, United have let in more goals at this stage than they have ever done, in the history of the Premier League. The fact that something has to be done in defense is something that has been on Moyes’s agenda right from day one.

This decision, along with Rio Ferdinand’s proposed move to the MLS and Evra’s mumblings about moving to AS Monaco means that there will be a mass exodus of senior players, especially defenders in the summer. With defense being a key area of concern for Moyes, the fact that his two most senior central defenders will not be there next season, would have been something he could have done without. And it is not just defense that is a worry.

There have been rumors that both Wayne Rooney and Robin Van Persie might be on their way out of the club in the summer. And whilst that might yet prove to be some jiggery-pokery on the part of the media, you cannot undermine the fact that Moyes has big decisions to make, in the summer, as the club look set to be in their greatest state of flux in a generation.