When he’s healthy, Nemanja Vidic just might be the best central defender in the world. Problem is that the Manchester United player has rarely been fit over the last two seasons, missing almost the entire campaign last year and suffering from another injury early on this year, which makes it quite tempting to sell him for £33 million to Anzhi Makhachkala.

Not that Alex Ferguson would love to sell Vidic, who played four league matches this season before another knee injury took him out, and he isn’t likely to return before the end of November. As always, despite the quite wide selection Ferguson has at centre back, most of them seem to be injured, as Vidic joined the Disabled list along with Phil Jones and Chris Smalling.

So when a club like Anzhi, who are off to a flying starting this season in Russia, leading the league after 11 matches, who have no real limits as to how much they can spend, offer so much money for a player who has most likely seen his best days gone by and past, its obviously seriously considered, especially in the current financial situation. Rio Ferdinand, not a young lad himself, might also be shown the way out if someone is actually willing to drop some money for him.

Anzhi have been quite busy since Suleyman Kerimov began his very ambitious project in Dagestan, including bringing Guus Hiddink to be his head coach. The crown jewel in his team is Samuel Eto’o, the highest paid player in the world, who is also scoring at his usual rate to help Anzhi lead the table. He is only one of only 30 players who have been signed at the club over the last couple of years, as the club has simply trampolined into European competition and the top of Russian football from nowhere thanks to a massive investment.

Vidic, 30, has played for Manchester United since 2005, joining from the Russian league after two years with Spartak Moscow. He has played in 171 league matches for the Red Devils, scoring 14 goals, but has only played in 10 matches since the beginning of the 2011-2012 season. He’s won four Premier League titles with the club and has made three Champions League finals, winning one of them. He’s also been capped 56 times for Serbia, playing in two World Cups.