Nemanja Vidic's impressive rise from surprise Christmas Day signing to stalwart of United's defence has earned him the respect of Reds fans worldwide.
ManUtd.com readers have voted him Player of the Month for October, ahead of perennial fans' favourite Wayne Rooney and French defender Patrice Evra who, like Vidic, made his debut in January 2006.
More than one third of the 91,000 votes were cast in Vidic's favour, following a month in which he played every minute of United's five matches in the Barclays Premiership and Champions League. He also scored his first goal for the club, a header at Wigan where the Reds came back from 1-0 down to win 3-1.
"Nemanja is such a brave lad, he's not afraid to stick his head in," said Sir Alex Ferguson recently.
"If you do that, you're going to get a good percentage of goals and hopefully the one at Wigan is his first of many."
Ferguson's quote in the Portsmouth match programme proved prophetic - Vida scored again that very afternoon, as the Reds dispatched Pompey 3-0. That performance could stand the Serbian defender in good stead when the November poll comes around.
Player of the Month
October 2006
1. Nemanja Vidic (35,004 votes)
2. Wayne Rooney (28,405 votes)
3. Patrice Evra (16,535 votes)
4. Paul Scholes (6,403 votes)
5. Michael Carrick (3,404 votes)
6. Darren Fletcher (1,375 votes)
Total votes: 91,126
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