Nemanja
Vidic was missing from the Manchester United squad that
headed out to Malaysia on Thursday afternoon for the first leg of a
four-match Far East tour.
Although United have not given a reason for Vidic's absence, the
defender was forced to pull out of a World Cup qualifier against
the Faroe Islands last month after suffering an ankle injury in
Serbia's victory over Austria.
With Wes Brown and Gary Neville included in a
22-man party, there was no point risking Vidic, although Sir Alex Ferguson will
hope to have the former Spartak Moscow man ready for the start of
United's Premier League title defence against Birmingham on August
16.
Of Ferguson's three new signings, only Michael Owen boarded the
plane bound for Kuala Lumpur, where United will tackle a Malaysia
XI on Saturday.
The other players to miss out were the perenially injured
Owen
Hargreaves, Danny
Welbeck, and Brazilian full-back Rafael
Da Silva, who has been suffering with an ankle problem
since the end of last season.
The full squad is: Edwin van der Sar,
Tomasz Kuszczak,
Ben Foster; Jonny Evans,
Patrice Evra, Rio Ferdinand, Gary
Neville, Wes Brown, John O'Shea,
Fabio da Silva; Nani,
Zoran Tosic, Darren Fletcher, Anderson,
Darron Gibson, Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick, Ryan Giggs; Michael Owen,
Dimitar Berbatov,
Federico Macheda,
Wayne Rooney.