Who is Bebe? Why United splash out on un-tried Portuguese?
-
Manchester United swoop to sign Bebe as Sir Alex Ferguson pulls off transfer coup
Getting his man: Sir Alex Ferguson has swooped to sign Bebe
Manchester United have pulled off another surprise transfer coup by signing Portuguese striker Bebe - heading off interest from rivals Real Madrid.
The 20-year-old is regarded as one of the best young talents in Portuguese football and United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has quickly made his move after being tipped off by former coach Carlos Queiroz.
The fee is believed to be in the region of £7m. Bebe only joined Vitoria Guimaraes in January but has caught the eye with a glut of goals. He is 6ft 3ins tall, good in the air, quick and has a strong right foot.
Ferguson is believed to have met the player for the first time on Tuesday, when he flew to Portugal to be a witness for Queiroz in a disciplinary case with the Portuguese football federation.
Ferguson, who has also been linked again with a renewed move for Werder Bremen's Mesut Ozil, hopes Bebe can have an even greater impact than young Mexican Javier Hernandez.
-
Who is Bebe? Find out why Manchester United shocked everyone by splashing out £7.4m on un-tried Portuguese striker
Be my Bebe: Manchester United have splashed out £7.4m on a player who hadn't played a competitive game for his club
Portuguese striker Bebe has become Manchester United's third, and most surprising, signing of the summer.
His £7.4m arrival from Vitoria Guimaraes takes the club's summer spending over the £20m mark, and he joins young duo Javier Hernandez and Chris Smalling.
Bebe, full name Tiago Manuel Dias Correia, has never played a competitive match for Vitoria and only signed a professional contract with them in July.
Vitoria have turned over a huge profit on the youngster having signed him from minnows Estrela de Amadora.
Sir Alex Ferguson made a move for the Portugal Under-19 striker on the recommendation of his former assistant and current Portugal manager Carlos Queiroz.
Powerful: Bebe was also being closely followed by Real Madrid before Ferguson stepped in
Bebe played in the third tier of Portuguese football last season for Estrela, Lisbon’s third club behind Benfica and Sporting. He is the latest to come off the club’s production line following in the footsteps of former Portuguese internationals Jorge Andrade and Paul Bento, as well as ex-Everton and Liverpool defender Abel Xavier.
Ferguson is believed to have met the player on Tuesday, having travelled to Portugal earlier in the week to act as a witness for Queiroz in a disciplinary case with the Portuguese Football Federation.
Highly recommended: Sir Alex Ferguson was alerted to Bebe's availability by his former No 2 Carlos Queiroz
United beat off competition from Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid for the platyer, who was raised an orphan and appeared in the Homeless World Cup after spending some time living on the streets.
He is the son of Cape Verdean immigrants and is now the second player at United descended form the islands, along with Portuguese international winger Nani.
Bebe becomes the seventh striker in the United squad along with Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov, Michael Owen, Hernandez, Federico Macheda and Danny Welbeck. The latter is expected to complete a loan move to Sunderland today.
-
i dun knw who is him =.=
7.4M? -
Yea, weird deal... It's not like Fergie spend money so easily and at such short notice... And a few days ago he didn't even know of seen him play before... Just one look and he want to buy him straightaway...lol. Kind of strange...
Anyway, one for the future for sure...
-
Manchester United's new kid from the streets made it the hard way
Bébé has checked in at Old Trafford for £7.4m only weeks after joining Vitória Guimarães from a club in the Portuguese third division
Bébé of Vitoria Guimarães shields the ball during last month's City of Guimarães Trophee final.
From an upbringing in a children's home and on the streets to one of the greatest stages in the football world. In terms of fairytales, it does not get much better than this.
He signed for Vitória Guimarães this summer and it was during pre-season that he began to hit the headlines. Five goals in six games and a string of man-of-the-match displays marked down the forward as one to watch. Yet it was still a huge surprise to see Manchester United splash out a reported €10m (£7.4m) for a player who has only appeared in the Portuguese third tier.
Mafra's manager Jorge Paixão was Bébé's coach at Estrela da Amadora and he says the tough upbringing is the secret behind the striker's rare abilities. "He's a player who is the fruit of street football," Paixão told the radio station Antena 1.
"Nowadays players are schooled in the clubs, but he has none of this. He's an old-school player. He learned to play in the street and has that natural creativity, an irreverence, and that makes all the difference.
"He improvises very well, because he has quality, and he has a set of characteristics that are difficult to find in a single footballer: he's tall, he's good in the air, he's technically gifted and he's very fast."
The poor kid from Cacém will now have the chance to showcase all that at Old Trafford.
-
Originally posted by Bus&Soccer l0v3r (VO3x 1):
i dun knw who is him =.=
7.4M?i think up to 7.4m , many terms & conditions if he meet certain targets..