Football Wonderkid Scout
Football Wonderkids
Manchester United Sign Portugese Striker Bébé
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has moved quickly to make his third signing of the season in recruiting Portugese striker Bébé, fending off interest from Real Madrid. The Reds are believed to have agreed a fee of £7.5m, subject to him passing the obligatory medical. It has been rumoured that scouts from the Spanish capital were keepings tabs on his progress and they were keen to sign the forward, prompting Ferguson to make a swift move. His signing takes Ferguson's spending to around £25m after the arrival of Chris Smalling and Javier Javier Hernández. With Manchester United also linked to Germany's World Cup sensation Mesut Özil, it is clear that the Reds are building for the future. Bébé, whose real name is Tiago Manuel Dias Correira is a 20-year old striker who currently plays for Portugese team Vitoria de Guimaraes. Technically superb, fast and good with his feet, Bébé has a good all round game and is rated as one of the finest prospects in Portugal, although he is still a relative unknown quantity. Starting out playing for Loures youth teams in 2001, he stayed until 2008 when he moved to Estrela da Amadora who are in Portugal's third division. Spotted by Vitoria de Guimares, Bébé only joined Vitoria in the summer for next to nothing on a five-year deal. A fine pre-season saw the young Portugese starlet catch the attention of a number of Europe's best and his contract termination clause was increased to €9m (or £7.5m) which Manchester United agreed to pay. It would appear that Sir Alex Ferguson has been watching his progress for some time and scouted the player
Sir Alex Ferguson quick to sign Bebe
on several occasions to take such a gamble for a player with no top flight experience. Standing at 6ft 3 inches tall, Bébé is a powerful striker and is good in the air. It is unknown whether Sir Alex Ferguson will include Bébé in his 25 man squad for the Premier League, given that it is now his 8th striker on the books and is expected to fall behind the likes of Rooney, Berbabtov, Owen, Macheda and Hernández.
This signing may have taken some people by surprise but Sir Alex is always on the look out for the next superstar of tommorow and it was his vast scouting network that signed Mexican wonderkid Javier Hernández. before he took the World Cup by storm, which would have sent his value rocketing. A personal recommendation by former assistant Carlos Quiroz, who is now national manager of Portugal. Sir Alex Ferguson is understood to have met the player for the first time on Tuesday when he flew to Portugal, principally as a witness for Queiroz in a disciplinary case with the Portuguese Football Federation, but the Scot wasted little time and pursued his interest in Bébé who agreed to put pen to paper. Manchester United have already let Mame Biram Diouf join Blackburn Rovers on a season-long loan and Danny Welbeck is on his way to Sunderland.
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