Fergie: We had fight for Vidic

Sir Alex Ferguson says Manchester United had to fight to sign Nemanja Vidic.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted he had to fend off several other clubs to land Nemanja Vidic.

The Serbia & Montenegro stopper has tied up his move to Old Trafford, where he will wear the number 15 shirt, despite a rival offer from Fiorentina and reported interest from Liverpool.

Fiorentina felt they had already secured the 24-year-old's signature and Ferguson conceded a lot of work had to be done to bring the Spartak Moscow defender to Manchester.

"I'm very happy," he informed Sky Sports News. "There was a period when a lot of negotiation had to be done.

"There were other clubs interested and there was an issue with the Italian club. Fortunately, we were able to resolve the problem and I'm delighted that he's here.

"The difficult thing about making your move in these situations is if you go too early, before the window opens, you can alert other clubs. So there's a timing involved in that.

"When we realised Fiorentina were involved, we had to move quite quickly then so we probably started to put things in motion at the beginning of December."

Vidic is lined up for a debut in the FA Cup third round replay with Burton Albion while Patrice Evra could figure against Blackburn Rovers in the Carling Cup on Wednesday.

Evra is being put through his paces by the United medical team as he wraps up his £5 million switch from Monaco.