Nemanja Matic has large boots to fill if he’s going to emulate the career that fellow Serb, Nemanja Vidic, enjoyed at Manchester United. 

Vidic was a hugely popular figure at United and left the club as captain in 2014. 

Matic has spoken about his compatriot and is pleased to be at the same club Vidic played for. 

Vidic, as you know, was a great player and one of the players where I look to be similar because he had a great career. When I come for the first time to the Serbia national team, he was one of the captains, he was a leader of our national team so he’s great. It’s great to be at the same club like him and I will try to do my best to repeat what he does. I know that is going to be very hard but I will try to do the best because I don’t want that, one day, he tells me ‘What are you doing there?!’ So I will try to do my best for him to be happy.

United fans’ song for Vidic went: “Nemanja, woah, Nemanja, woah, he comes from Serbia, he’ll fucking murder you.”

Matic was asked if he knew about the song, to which he replied: “Yeah, they can sing the same one I guess!”

Matic has a message for the fans too. Having just won the league with Chelsea, he says his intention is to win it again this season with United. 

We will give our best to make them happy and to win the league this season. Yeah, that’s it – [we’ll give] our best and we will give more than 100 per cent.