• Premier League

Vidic: My injury woes are behind me

Nemanja Vidic believes he can put 18 months of injury problems behind him and play a full role in Manchester United's defence of their Premier League title.

The United skipper was limited to six league appearances in the 2011-12 season, when his campaign was curtailed by a cruciate ligament injury suffered in the December 2011 Champions League defeat to Basel.

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And he required a further operation on his knee last season, when he only began 18 of United's league games, before missing the club's pre-season tour of Asia and Australia because of sciatica.

"I had a few injuries, especially the knee injury," Vidic said.

"The sciatica was not a big problem but it was better for me to stay and train with the reserves. I've not had a pre-season for a couple of years and I was training really well with the reserves. I had two 90-minute games and I think I'm ready."

Sir Alex Ferguson was reluctant to select Vidic for two games within the space of a few days last season because of concerns about his fitness but the Serb is confident he is able to cope with a more demanding workload now.

He added: "I never like to make big promises but I believe I am fit. I am sure of how fit I am. I feel really good. Now it's all behind me, one and a-half years after my [first] operation and I'm ready to go."

Vidic turns 32 in October and has entered the final year of his current contract at Old Trafford.

He is yet to be offered a new deal - and precedent suggests, given his age, it would be a one-year extension anyway - but insisted he is not worried by that.

He said: "I'm not expecting anything, I'm just trying to perform as best I can and along the way we will see where I am and what the plans are. I am not worried,"

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