UEFA have confirmed that, although the game is a competitive one, as it now falls outside a FIFA allocated ’international window’ – thanks to the heavy snowfalls that have hit Belgrade – Serbia have no automatic right to the keep the defender after Wednesday’s clash with Poland.

It means that Ferguson must decide whether to release Vidic, who should be involved in Saturday’s Barclays Premier League encounter with Bolton at the Reebok Stadium.

The dilemma is made more tricky at the moment because Serbia still have an outside chance of qualifying.

However, that remote hope will be extinguished if Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal pick up a point from their home game with Finland, a result that will almost certainly see Vidic head back to Manchester to resume club duties.

Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports have emerged that Wayne Rooney will return to training this week way ahead of schedule.

Rooney was initially ruled out for four weeks after suffering an ankle injury in a freak training-ground accident prior to United’s Premier League win over Blackburn.

However, if the speculation proves to be correct and Rooney comes through unscathed, he could be in line for a place on the bench at Bolton – where he scored a brilliant hat-trick last year.

Ferguson has problems up front anyway, with Carlos Tevez not due back to training until Friday after completing Argentina’s World Cup qualifier in Colombia.

In addition, while Louis Saha was able to start in Rooney’s absence in the win over Blackburn, his fitness is so fragile Ferguson will not want to be over-reliant on the Frenchman.