Nemanja Vidic caused a storm in Manchester today when quotes attributed to him in a Russian football magazine criticised Manchester as a city, the climate and the English culture.

In the interview, Vidic was quoted as being less than impressed with life in the North West. "I will never stay to live in England, that's for sure," he said. "You get only a brief glimpse of sunlight before it's all cloudy again. The winters are mild, but in summer the temperatures seldom go higher than 20C. And it rains, rains, rains.

"In future, I would like to test myself in another top league. I'm thinking of Spain.

"At least there will be no reason to complain about the weather. In England, they say that Manchester is the city of rain. Its main attraction is considered to be the timetable at the railway station, where trains leave for other, less rainy cities."

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Later, in a statement on the official Manchester United website, Vidic attempted to distance himself from the article. "I'd like to clarify that I did not make these particular remarks," he said. "I spoke about the difficulty I had settling in to life in Manchester, but that does not reflect how I feel now.

"I enjoy my life very much as a footballer at Manchester United and I'm very happy to be a part of this great club. I think I show that in the way I play every week. I also have far too much respect for the people of Manchester, and England, to criticise them in this way."

Vidic, who joined United from Spartak Moscow in January 2006, was also quoted as being critical of the English way of life. "It's not only the weather that I'm not happy about here," he said. "In Russia and Serbia the people's way of life is similar. In England it's totally different. Here they just don't have time to feel the joy of life.

"Throughout the week they all work so hard. They only talk to people at lunch break. Then in the evening they come home and watch the telly, so they can get up early for work the next day.

"The only time to meet friends is at weekends, but for football players it's the busiest time of all. It was much easier for me to adapt to Russia than England. In England I had no one to talk to. The first month was especially hard. I lived alone in a hotel, which I left only for training. I thought I would go crazy inside those four walls."