United Legends Excited By Club's China Visit

Manchester United legends Nemanja Vidic and Bryan Robson have described this summer's visit to China for Tour 2016, presented by Aon, as great news for the club's fans in Asia.

Both Vidic and Robson have experienced pre-season tours with United in the Far East - in 2007 and 1984 respectively - and the duo commented on the supporters' passion when giving interviews to MUTV at the tour launch this week.

That passion is likely to reach fever pitch on 25 July in Beijing when the Reds take on Manchester City in the first-ever derby meeting in China. A match against Borussia Dortmund will precede that on 22 July in Shanghai and both United legends expect Tour 2016, presented by Aon, to be a great success.

"I think it’s great news we're coming on tour to China," Vidic told MUTV. "We have so many followers in the country, over 100 million fans and it’s good to visit them and spend some time with them. They’re really passionate about United.

"I was in China in 2007 and I have to say the amount of energy we got from the fans there was unbelievable. I look back on that pre-season with great memories before the 2007/08 season because that was one of the most successful seasons in my career at United and my career as a whole."

Robson agreed, adding: "I actually first came here in 1979 with West Brom and we played five games and it was a great experience. To come back again with United in '84 was amazing because you could see how the football had improved even in a few years and of course now there is the Chinese Super League which is getting bigger all the time.

"Our fanbase in Asia continues to grow as well, especially in China. I'm not sure how they've got it but some fans there have my home address and I've had letters to my home from Chinese students saying how much they love United and wanting autographs. I really admire the enthusiasm the fans have."

On the matches themselves, the two former United captains agreed they will be good tests for the Reds and the fixture against City will be anything but friendly.

"They're great games to look forward to," added Robson. "Dortmund are just behind Bayern Munich as the biggest team in Germany and have some fabulous players.

"It'll be a treat for the fans to experience a derby game. People have said it'll be one of [Pep] Guardiola's first games as City manager but that doesn't matter as much as it's a derby and you have to go out there and try to win.

"You don’t want to lose against City, even when it’s a friendly match," declared Vidic. "I believe it’s good that United will play good teams in pre-season because they can see where they are at. You can get a sense of where you are up to [with fitness] and the players will see how much work they need to do to reach the level of others."

Find out more about Tour 2016, presented by Aon, at www.manutd.com/tour2016.