When Bebe joined Manchester United in the summer of 2010, it became the rags to riches story that Hollywood scriptwriters couldn’t have made – but there was no fairytale ending.
Fans were left scratching their heads as United announced the signing of an unknown winger who had recently been playing in the Portuguese third division. He didn’t even have a YouTube compilation video.
Sir Alex Ferguson later admitted that he’d never seen Bebe play and reportedly acted on the advice of assistant manager Carlos Queiroz. That turned out to be a big mistake.
Humble beginnings
Bebe’s troubled upbringing brought him worldwide attention after he completed his move to Old Trafford. His unlikely path to stardom had intrigued and inspired so many people.
He’d grown up in the small city of Loures in Portugal, but his impoverished parents were unable to look after him and, aged 12, he was placed into an orphanage near Lisbon.
It was at the Casa do Gaiato shelter where Bebe learned how to play football and first honed his skills.
He went on to play for Portugal at the 2008 Homeless World Cup, scoring 40 goals in six matches, and then played at the European Street Football Festival a year later.
Bebe was soon spotted by Estrela da Amadora in the Portuguese third division and their coach immediately loved his style.
“He’s a player who is the fruit of street football,” said Jorge Paixao. “Nowadays players are schooled in the clubs, but he has none of this.
“He’s an old-school player. He learnt to play in the street and has that natural creativity, an irreverence, and that makes all the difference.”
After a year of playing semi-professional football, Bebe earned a dream move to Vitoria de Guimaraes in 2010 hoping to get a chance in the Portuguese top division for the first time.
He would have to wait for that chance – but not for the reason he might have expected.
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Joining Manchester United
Bebe quickly began to catch people’s attention at Vitoria, scoring five goals in six matches in pre-season and impressing onlookers with his skill, speed and raw talent.
Still, nobody could possibly have expected Manchester United to pay the £7.4million release clause for the Portuguese prodigy just five weeks after he’d joined Vitoria – and, unsurprisingly, that included Bebe himself.
“It was a shock for me, too,” he said. “For the week leading up to it, I thought…
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