VIDIC TO LEAVE AND AN EXODUS TO FOLLOW

So much for the captain being the last one off a sinking ship!

Nemanja Vidic has announced he will leave Manchester United at the end of the current season after spending eight years at the heart of their defence. He has won trophies galore including several league titles and a Champions League honour. At times during his spell at United he has rightly been considered the best centre back in the world. Powerful, determined and astonishing in the air, Vidic etched out a reputation where very few strikers got the better of him. His form had been so consistent that his very few bad performaces stood out like a sore thumb. There were one or two blips along the way provided by the likes of Samuel Eto'o and Fernando Torres but generally, Vidic was a rock solid presence for United. At 32, the club captain has decided he wants a new challenge and will join Inter Milan's project in Italy next season.

Questions will be raised about this however. Although he has shown his age in the past two seasons or so, why would a key figure leave United in such a time of crisis in order to join another team that are struggling for form and indentity in what is considered now a weaker league? At his age, you would expect him to see out his career at Old Trafford, maybe play two seasons more and see if he can help them transition into a newly-challenging side in the post-Ferguson era. One feels that the atmosphere around the club at present could see an exodus of their established stars in the summer.

Patrice Evra is very likely to leave, Monaco, an ex-club of his, being the most likely destination. Rio Ferdinand might call it a day and retire as he has now lost most of the pace that made him such an excellent covering centre half in his prime. Ryan Giggs, at his age, is very likely to retire too and Darren Fletcher though only 30 will have to be monitored closely due to the possibility of his illness returning. Shinji Kagawa appears unhappy at United and may force his way out of the club. Jurgen Klopp would happily take him back to Dortmund. Ashley Young and Nani look like spent forces and may also seek employment elsewhere. All of their strikers, barring Danny Welbeck, seem frustrated too. Robin van Persie has taken Ferguson's retirement badly. Injuries and inconsistency have returned and playing David Moyes football had never been part of the script when he joined from Arsenal. Wayne Rooney is yet to sign that bumper £300,000 a week contract (crazy, right?) and may be tempted by Jose Mourinho at Chelsea or the same mega bucks provided abroad outside of Sky's media glare. Javier Hernandez will also seek a move, annoyed at his lack of opportunities despite nearly always putting in decent performances.

So that's quite a large chunk of United's squad and you would wonder how they will go about recruiting players next summer. Last summer was a mess with United publicly targeting players that had no interest in moving. Moyes doesn't attract the same level of player as Ferguson did, the club's stature and Champions League qualification must do this. Should United miss out on an ECL spot, they'll be forced to hoover up talents from mid-table clubs and over-spend on lesser players due to the fact that all selling clubs will know that they have the money. This exodus may be what Moyes needs. Get out the old guard and really shape your own squad. The sheer numbers lost could be too many though. Clubs often deal with two or three veterans leaving in one year but losing seven or eight members of a first-team squad represents major redevelopment. United fans will be hoping for regeneration rather than a downward spiral into mediocrity like their rivals Liverpool suffered in the '90s.

D. Ray Morton, 7th February 2014.

@D_Ray_Morton