Bebe

Amidst all the jeers that surrounded his short stay at Manchester United, Portuguese winger Bebe seems to be on his way out of the club. Besiktas have stepped in to relieve him of his pain with a loan move in the works. Reports claim that the contract would have a clause that would enable Besiktas to buy the player for £2 million. This would represent a loss of £5.4 million for United who bought the player spectacularly from nowhere literally.

Bebe’s dizzying ascent started in 2009 when he was signed by Portuguese Second Division side Estrela da Amadora in the summer. He was offered to PSV for free but PSV turned the option down as they felt that he was too much of an unknown quantity. On 11th August, 2010 Manchester United bought the player who had just spend five weeks with his new club Vitória de Guimarães for an astounding £7.4 million. Experts were initially sceptical of the signing but did not criticize the decision openly knowing SAF’s knack of identifying talents. After all he had just bought Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez for a paltry £6 million and his displays in the World Cup belied his transfer amount.

However a genuine embarrassment followed with assistant coaches at Manchester United’s initial assessment that Bebe was unfit even for reserve team football. His sporadic appearances in the red jersey seemed to justify the assessment of the coaches. Even SAF had to admit in the media that he had bought Bebe based on some clips he had seen. A running joke was that Bebe had lifted the Premier League trophy more times than Steven Gerrard. His wayward crossing and illogical decision making just seemed to add fuel to the fire.

Besiktas have stepped in to release him of his nightmare with this loan deal. The Turkish club has been strange in its dealings in the transfer market. Of late it has resorted to buying outcasts from various teams and tries to build a team around them. Guti (Real Madrid), Rustu (Barcelona), Quaresma (Inter, Chelsea) and now Bebe. They have also been linked with a move for unsettled Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner.

Tags: Bebe, Besiktas, EPL, Football, Manchester United, Premier League, Winger