Nemanja Vidic has hailed Chris Smalling as a rare breed…because he loves defending.

Smalling reached the 200 appearance milestone for Manchester United last Saturday against Aston Villa and has been one of the Reds» successes this term.

Former captain Vidic billige fotballdrakter barn was an Old Trafford team-mate of Smalling and mentor for four seasons.

And the no-nonsense Serb admired the defensive qualities of his junior sidekick.

“I’ve always loved Chris. I love him because he’s a defender. His mentality is that he likes to defend,” said Vidic.

“I believe he can still improve but he is physically strong and, as I said, he likes to defend which, for me, is very important. You don’t see many players nowadays who like to defend, there are not many in the world. That’s his big ability.”

Smalling had Vidic and Rio Ferdinand to ease him into United’s seniors following his ￡10m move from Fulham in 2010 as a 20-year-old.

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But the new generation of Old Trafford chelsea drakt barn youngsters who have gained promotion under Louis van Gaal have not had the same kind of guidance and maybe it could be an area that England defender Smalling could improve.

Tim Fosu-Mensah, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, Joe Riley, Donald Love, Regan Poole, Guillermo Varela, and Ro-Shaun Williams have all been handed first team defensive call-ups during United’s injury crisis this season.

And Vidic reckons it is harder for them to make an impact.

“I think it’s more difficult for defenders, especially when you have three or four of them playing together in the same match,” he added.