By Ben Davies
Manchester United have announced the signing of Tiago Manuel Dias Correia (also known as Bébé) from Portuguese club Vitória de Guimarães for a reported £7.4 million. Bébé was apparently recommended to Sir Alex Ferguson by his former assistant coach Carlos Queiroz. The 20-year-old only moved to Guimarães five weeks ago from Portuguese third division club Estrala da Amadora and has represented Portugal in the homeless World Cup.
Yesterday Bébé was pictured in Spanish newspaper Marca linking him with a move to Real Madrid, which has perhaps forced Sir Alex’s hand in signing the young Portuguese earlier than planned. Ronaldo, Diouf, Smalling and Hernandez were all starting to gain interest from other clubs before Sir Alex and Man United made their move.
Value in the market? For the third time this year I’ve been left scratching my head regarding transfer activity – first Smalling, secondly Hernandez and now Bébé all under the £10m figure. Many were disappointed when the singing of Hernandez was announced – concerned with signing players of value and developing potential rather than signing established named players. We’d all agree Hernandez now looks an absolute bargain. I’m firmly of the opinion Smalling will be considered a bargain once he understands the art of defending, which surely will come with experience. Will Bébé? Sir Alex Ferguson and his scouting network know better than most of players available. Personally, we should back Sir Alex on this transfer. His record for signing unknown top players is quite extraordinary – the list is endless.
Of course this signing will ask questions regarding Ozil. If we can afford £7.4m for Bebe, why not splash the cash on Ozil? Perhaps it simply boils down to Sir Alex not fancying the young German or he doesn’t fit into team plans? Perhaps wage demands are a factor?
Bébé’s playing position is unclear – the official site suggests he is striker whilst others have claimed he is a winger or an attacking midfielder. Considering the high number of forwards at club signing a further forward does seem a tad odd. There are a couple of YouTube video’s knocking about – generally I prefer not to make any judgement via these videos. However, at the moment we have no other method to form an opinion – he seemingly likes to play on the wings or play in a forward role from midfield, which would suggest he is not a striker?
We thought Smalling’s jump from Maidstone to United was big. Well being homeless and joining one of the biggest clubs in the world is some going. Good luck to him – he has come a long way.
If you wish to discuss this issue further with myself or other members of the Stretford End Arising community, you can do so in the Forum
17 Comments
i dont know why SAF signed a striker when we have 7 strikers already at the club..Central midfield is the area that we need to strengthen..Realise it fergie!!!!
It is a big surprise to splash $7m on an unknown and unproven player. Ozil is playing in exactly all those positions, proven and available at similar price. If we don’t buy Ozil, the only reason I can think of is that he has agreed to join Real Madrid or Barcelona or some other Rich Daddy club… God bless!!!
The transfer activity this time around has been odd indeed.Having said that,SAF has an incredible track record of finding the right player and hitting the 8 ball in to corner pocket.
I know very little about this “Bebe” bloke but obviously he has something to offer at the table.I’m really geared up for the new season and I’m positive they boys in red will come good of their short-comings of last season.
We’ll see how this bloke(Bebe) fairs out and where he fits in but surely there must be some “outs” in wake of the “ins” at the club ?
I hope that the young players get more of a show as they are quickly becoming an intergral part of United’s stand-by community.
Cleverley looks like a “break glass in case of emergency” type player,Macheda,Rafael, Gibson,etc, need no introductions.
United youth are a cut above the rest for me.It is going to be a very,very interesting season indeed.
United don’t produce players like the “we’re here because we’re here” types.So in view of “Bebe,” I have mixed emotions – too afraid of the unknown but too fascinated to disregard it.
Always United – United Always,
NR
Bebe can play on the wing, midfield or asa forward and is a quick strong creative streetwise footballer, i alrready like this deal just like i loved the signing of Chicharito is april. Ozil on the other hand is highly over-rated and Fergie clearly doesnt want him thank god, welcome to Manchester Bebe. Chicharito (£6m), Smalling (£10m), Bebe (£7.4m) money well spent as if the upgrades of Amos ad Cleverley and the sales of Flopster (£6m), Tosic (£8m) are good, shame we sold Cathcart (£500k?).
SEA,
I hope Cleverly can make the break through. I love the goal he scored against the MLS all stars. Pure class.
I also hope Welbeck can break through this season but then got loaned out to Sunderland.
What do you think about Macheda? I was so excited to see him in his first season. But after watching the pre-season matches, it seems he is not ready yet. Maybe it was down to his injury last season. Or maybe he is trying too hard to prove himself.
Hey SEA,
hope all is well mate,I would have been in here earlier if it weren’t for the birth of our 5th child lol !You know how it is…?
Oh yes – the “OZIL FAB,” overated;Cleverly is our boy !He knows the ethos,philosophy eats,breathes and (I beg your pardon),***** United.
Have I told you that he can also dabble a bit on the field ?Cleverly,Cleverly – remember the name !He’s our boy.I saw him in pre-season for the first time and my thoughts were ………………you guessed it,DAMMMN that boy can play.
On a personal note : If this Bebe bloke is indeed a “fruit of the street” I hope to see a good old fashion 70s – 80s type player no-nonsense just straight forward good solid football with a hint of ruck & maul Springboks style.
Seems like only last summer that ol’ rednose was having a dig at City for having 8 strikers on the books.
Funny how it’s one rule for you lot eh?
P.S. Ozil? In your dreams.
Hi All.
Funny game footy, isn’t it? This guy’s story is incredible, and I hope for all parties it’s win-win. (for Vitoria, it certainly is!!)
He reminds me of Ruud Gullit (dreads put to one side). Not sure he is any better than Obertan but you never know. I have a thought. He looks like he might play center mid or wide. Another thing occurred to me, am I right in saying that Valencia plays some times central for country and Fergie mentioned he might play him there at some point?
I don’t see Bebe as a Striker as the guy doesn’t shoot too well going by the vids, so he’s either gonna be a wide man or a midfielder like Lampard. Either way, I’m intrigued by the signing and just so hyped for the season. We have so many young players it’s like having Six new signings. Anderson and Nani know they have to perform too!!
I don’t think since the Veron signing have I been so utterly shocked and surprised by a transfer. In the Veron case it was because he was a true World class player, and it was a rare signing in the PL. BTW We have agreed to send a player over on loan if rumors are true. Possebon or Fabio would make sense.
I found the news out as it happened last night from the Guardian’s raphael honigstein on Twitter, and they have a nice piece on him –
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/aug/12/bebe-street-kid-manchester-united
They say he’s a left winger, and it looks that way going by the vids. I assume that Fergie has faith in Giggs and Scholes to compete centrally for 10-15 games each, Park, Cleverly, Obertan and Bebe on the left and Valencia and Nani on the right. Carrick and Gibson to be the DM-ish midfielder and Giggs, Scholes and Ando as creatives. Hernandez is on fire, Berba is on form, Rooney tired but will be back, and Kiko will play more. I think fergie is ready for an out and out PL fire-fight. What we lacked last season was goals. We will be top scores this season in my opinion. If the defends stays fit we should win this one. IF the defends stays fit…
Also been confirmed that Madrid and 2 others bid for him (by the Guimarães president) Bebé preferred United over Madrid lol. Unusual for a Portuguese winger to do that!! lol
Regarding Fifthcolumnblue… You are a retard. You think that signing guys like Kolarov and Yaya Toure is going to improve your shit team ? Bellamy was your best player last season and your selling him so fuck up.
By the way even if we don’t sign Ozil we will still beat you next season and if we do sign Ozil we will fuckin hammer you.
Write back to me when you’ve actually won something Dickhead.
i see sound little bitter appeared, obsessed as always. Bèbè can play as an attacking midfielder, winger and forward, what it gotta do with those clowns and their small club anyway. Chicharìto is a true superstar and again scored vs a top national side, he will rip the league apart. we dont need Ozil and i am sick of hearing people moan why hasnt we signed Ozil? why wont we go for Ozil? why we not use this money to sign Ozil? you ever think that maybe Fergie doesnt want Ozil and we dont need him.
bebe played in the trid divsion . last season . then over five weaks ago a preimer team signed hin. about five weaks ago. bebe played in a tournment and scored 40 goals in 6 match if we get half that playing for man united we will be doing well. aslo united have until 12 o clock 20morrow to get the go head with the fa with they want him on the bench against newscastle. ozil is all set to jion madriad according to german media. with bermen are set to play in the chanmpions league ozil saga nearly over
Im glad we given Bebe a chance. he deserves this as much as any1 and sounds a good lil player. He a big lad, good in the air, quick, a gl-scorer, technically skilled, great vision and passer, loves taking ppl on. He can play in 3diff postions, naturally creative, old school and the fruit of street football, he improviser very well. The lad is bright, 2footed and got great characteristics, i can see Bebe being a great signing for us, he be our wild card coz oppositions wouldnt know what 2 expect.
its as clear as day Fergie doesnt want Ozil or he would of went for him quickly as he knows others are interested – like he did with Chicharito and Bebe – Fergie clearly knows Ozil càn not offer anything we dont aready have. Cleverley is miles better and will be world class in no time, we dont need this ordinary midfielder and what happened to your obsession with J.Cole, Van Der Vaart and Sneijder, we “needed” these guys. we dònt need anyone else. we will win the lot this season, Chicharito rules.
our last 4 buys prove we dont want Ozil as we bought Diouf, Smalling, Chicharito and Bebe as soon as others started sniffing around them yet we have no interest in Ozil aldo Real Madrid just had a bid rejected. we wanted Diouf, Smalling, Chicharito and Bebe and made sure we didnt lose out. Chicharito, that was a charm as we went on a 6mth mission to land him with several scout jobs before we moved in without anyone ever knowing. Chicharito is a legend in the making. Ozil is an ordinary over-rated player.