Transfer flops: Bebe

The unknown Portuguese winger whipped up a storm of speculation when he signed for Manchester United last year.  Who was this person who it's rumoured Sir Alex Ferguson had never seen play? Was it true that he was offered around Europe for next to nothing? And did he really play in the Homeless World Cup?

Well allow Sports Portal to clear up these little dilemmas.  At the unveiling of his new signing, Ferguson did indeed admit that he had never witnessed the prodigy play or even seen a video.  With other European big guns circling United were positive they had to act quickly, the Red Devils boss said at the time (to the Daily Mail): 

"I didn't see any videos of him, it's the first time. Normally, as in the case of Javier (Hernandez) and Chris (Smalling), I saw plenty of video footage of them.
"You've got to trust your staff at times and our scout in Portugal was adamant we must do something quickly.
"So were one or two other clubs and that's where you have to make quick decisions in life and I'm not too bad about that. I also spoke to Carlos Queiroz (his former assistant at United and now Iran coach) about him.
"Sometimes you have to go on an instinct, you look at material. You look at their age and whether they're bringing pace, balance, desire to play and things like that."

The Homeless World Cup debacle is a thing of fiction, after it was proven that he played for partner organisation CAIS.  He did compete at The European Street Football Festival in 2009 for this partner project, but you can dispel any other rumours.  As for point number two, we'll get to that soon.

Following stints at amateur sides Bebe was signed by Estrela Da Amadora in the summer of 2009, where he was widely regarded as the finest player on their books.  However financial problems took their toll on the side, and subsequently he was offered around Europe for as little as £125,000.  No takers come forward though, with PSV Eindhoven saying they rejected the chance to take the youngster on a free as they didn't know anything about him.

Vitoria Guimaraes eventually signed the player, after cash flow problems worsened at Estrela Da Amadora.  From here on in, it must have seemed like a fairytale.  A glittering pre-season earned the interest of English Champions Manchester United, who eagerly snapped up their man for an undisclosed fee (thought to be around £7.4m).  After his short stint at Guimaraes, where he stayed around five weeks only, he failed to live up to expectations in the Premier League.

Following some very abject performances in his first season, including a poor display at home to non-league Crawley town, he was farmed out on the loan at the start of the 2011/12 campaign.  Besiktas was the destination where it was hoped he could turn in some stellar performances, and return to the North-West rejuvenated ready to fight for a starting place.  However a cruciate ligament injury has ruled him out for at least six months, so it could be a while yet before we see if he really has what it takes to make it at the top level.