Reserve forward Tiago Manuel Dias Correia – Bébé – will join BeÅŸiktaÅŸ on loan for the 2011/12 season, netting Manchester United a €1 million fee in the process. The Portuguese under-21 international, 20, could join the Turkish Süper Lig side permanently although there is no ‘option to buy’ built into the contract as widely reported. But if he does, United will lose more than £5 million on a deal that remains the strangest of Sir Alex Ferguson’s time at Old Trafford.
Bébé’s acquisition has proven to be a disaster and not simply because at €9 (£7.4) million supporters might have expected more from the 20-year-old but because the raw materials were simply lacking in the former Vitória de Guimarães player from the start. The forward scored six goals in 13 appearances for United’s reserves in the past season, and two in seven for the first team. But Ferguson’s decision to countenance a loan abroad brings the Scot’s faith in the player’s long-term development into question.
Indeed, it was a transfer that had a bizzare nature from the start: the inflated fee for a player who had never performed above the third tier previously, a last-minute change of agent, and the player’s albeit heart-warming rags-to-riches personal story.
There is more than a hint of financial mismanagement about the deal though. The £7.4 million fee, 30 per cent of which was handed-over to Jorge Mendes’ GestiFute agency, was paid for a player ‘flipped’ by Guimarães. Bébé had joined Guimarães on a free-transfer from third division outfit Estrala da Amadora just five weeks previously but did not play for the higher-ranked club in a competitive game. Mendes, in turn, had represented Bébé for less than a fortnight.
Nice work if you can get it.
Yet United bought out the player’s contract release fee, reportedly on the recommendation of former assistant manager Carlos Queiroz, now the former-Portugal national coach, with Ferguson meeting the player just once 48 hours before ink had dried on the contracts. Famously Ferguson had never seen Bébé play before agreeing to the transfer. Something about the story has always felt false.
Further mystery is added by United’s audited annual accounts, which showed a post-balance sheet transaction of £8.3 million was paid in respect of player registrations after 30 June, 2010. Quite where the additional £900,000 went is anybody’s guess but rumours of further agent involvement refuse to die down.
Aside from the financial shenanigans the deal also represents everything that can go wrong in a badly planned transfer. For all the credit that Ferguson rightly claims in signing Mexican Javier Hernández, Bébé represents the counter-point. United apparently scouted Hernández for weeks, sending Jim Lawler to Mexico to thoroughly research both the player and man. It worked, with United securing what has now proven the season’s bargain. At £7 million, with further add-ons, United could more than triple Hernández’ fee if sold on the open market today.
Yet the club’s behaviour in signing Bébé, seemingly on a whim, negates successes elsewhere. Certainly if finances are a primary reason for Ferguson’s bragging over Hernández then more than £5 million wasted on Bébé must also be held to account. The two approaches cannot be reconciled.
Bébé will join four other Portuguese at BeÅŸiktaÅŸ, including Ricardo Quaresma, Simão Sabrosa, Hugo Almeida and Manuel Fernandes – all of which are GestiFute clients. Has Mendes done United a favour moving Bébé on or simply double-dipped on the deal? After all, Mendes has built a certain reputation in the industry. The agent, some might say, can sell ice to Esikmos, coals to Newcastle and homeless duds to wealthy Premier League outfits.
There is more to this line-of-thinking too, with Mendes also agent to José Mourinho who many believe will take the reigns at Old Trafford one day. Mendes is also favourite to snap up Old Trafford-bound David de Gea when the Spaniard’s contract with Hector Rincon ends on 31 June. de Gea will become the fourth GestiFute client on United’s books, including Bébé, Nani and Anderson.
It is also hard to see where United can turn the deal around unless Bébé matures beyond expectation at the Black Eagles in Turkey. More likely, if Bébé plays little – there is a complicated ‘foreigners’ rule in the Süper Lig – then the player may simply return to Old Trafford next summer virtually unsellable.
In this there is also sympathy for the man who has been shunted from club-to-club in the past year, seemingly at the will of agents. Roy Keane’s assertion that players are little more than “meat” comes to mind.
Bébé’s dream has turned sour because he did not have the talent to fulfil it at Old Trafford, even though he has worked hard to develop. The actions of those who signed-off on the deal are yet to be brought to account.
Bébé: a deal gone wrong from the start
(57 posts) (15 voices)-
Posted 2 years ago #
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sidney
Member
Interesting read. There is definitely more to this than we're being told.
I feel sorry for him... the shit he got from the press and some United fans when he first signed was harsh. He might still become a half decent player who may be of use to our squad, or, at least fetch back the £7/8m we shelled out for him.
Unlikely, but you never know.
Posted 2 years ago # -
timbo
Member
Posted by unregistered user: timboIf this kind of financial mismanagement took place in the business world there’d be hell to pay. Blowing what is, in the real world, a huge amount of money on a total unknown, sight unseen, smacks of something very fishy. Either Ferguson and his team got royally and criminally conned by Mendez, or some sort of favour is being returned or set up. The Glazers should have every right to give Fergie a dressing down and a please explain.
Hernandez has proven an exceptional buy, but cast an eye back over Fergie’s career and he’s also made some very bad deals or prohibitively expensive purchases that made no sense – and which cost the club vast amounts of money. The Veron purchase was once such example, buying a deep-lying playmaker who was never going to gel with the likes of the equally deep-lying Roy Keane. Then there is Berbatov, a brilliant player whose style was only ever going to work at United if the team played to his strengths. Fergie has never even looked like doing so, even though he must have known what he was purchasing in the Bulgarian, so the question needs to be asked – why did he blow 30 million pounds on a player he had no intention of committing to stylistically, who has largely been peripheral at United, and who’s been treated like a pariah even when he was the form forward in the EPL during the first half of the season just gone?
In many ways I think recent evidence shows that Fergie’s judgement is not what it was, that like anyone who has held on to the reigns of power too long, he has grown far too comfortable with his own sense of control and authority to a point where it can’t be questioned. Tactically, the game against Barcelone showed yet again that he simply doesn’t have what it takes to take on Europe’s best with any deal of comfort – his sides are made for the grind and pace of English football, and he simply doesn’t know how to adjust to the chess game that is European football – the team selections and tactics he chose for the CL were little better than suicidal decisions. While Fergie remains at the helm, I’d go so far as to suggest that, just as some cricket teams choose a horses for courses policy when it comes to the captaincy of their Test, one-day, and 20-20 teams, so may United need different managers to take on domestic and European duties.
Posted 2 years ago # -
redstar41
Member Posted by unregistered user: redstar41Hi,
I’m a huge united fan and a turkish blogger. as you know there’s been a transfer of bebe from united to my hometown team besiktas. I’m interviewing united fans and bloggers around the world to ask them how they feel about it. I have 5-6 questions for the interview. I’m gonna post answers on my blog. And this interview is supported by many facebook fan pages and fan forums… Whould you like to be a part of it?
Waiting for your e-mail and answer, thanks in advance have a good day.Posted 2 years ago # -
Bébé
Member Posted by unregistered user: BébéHere’s my thing…..
1, I doubt highly if SAF forked out £7.4 million in one lump sum, chances are it may have been £1 million and a whole lot of additional clauses (games, trophies, international caps etc) which would add up to the ‘reported’* transfer fee
2, I also doubt SAF would have thrown SO much money on a player when MUFC are in so much debt and changes to the FIFA rules regarding living outside your means**
3, Looking at his goals to games ratio – it is better than many established premiership players.
4, BeÅŸiktaÅŸ aren’t a team to randomly pick up players unless they have proven ability or good potential***
* I use the term reported as NOTHING official has been mentioned the £7.4mill fee has been reported in tabloid papers!
** FIFA are now pushing the whole, you can only spend what you make ruling
*** BeÅŸiktaÅŸ wouldn’t pick up a ‘dud’ as you have so labeled Bébé – Which I may add is harshTO SUMMARIZE
Bébé will STILL be a MUFC player after this loan NOT because of a buy clause in the loan agreement but because he has simply been sent out to gain 1st team experience.
The kid is highly rated as is De Laet (who has also gone on loan to get 1st team experience) so mark my words – he’ll be back next year better and strongerPosted 2 years ago # -
Bebe – No, you are completely wrong on almost all points. Not just wrong in terms of my opinion is different to yours but factually wrong in terms of you don’t know what you’re talking about.
Let’s make this really clear so there’s no doubt about it and anonymous internet posters like you don’t try and throw some FUD around. United paid Bebe’s release fee of 9 million euros in one lump sum, up front. This isn’t about it being REPORTED in the tabloid newspapers. It’s in black and white and PUBLISHED in United’s accounts. There’s no doubt, no room for debate it is just a fact. Clear?
Editor & Moderator at http://www.unitedrant.co.ukPosted 2 years ago # -
Geno
Member Posted by unregistered user: GenoThe whole deal stank right from the start. We can probably all guess as to part of what was going on, but the guy who got the most out of this deal reputedly has some pretty good lawyers so enough said!
As for Bebe, while he is blameless and has reportedly done his best in the reserves, I don’t feel particularly sorry for him. He is reportedly on a four year deal – while Ed has said he is only making 100k a year, other sources have reported he was on 12k a week or 600k a year before taxes, agent’s fees etc. Let’s split the difference and say he was on 200k a year after all taxes, fees, living costs etc – that’s 800k over the 4 years so even if he retires from the game at the end of this contract, he will have a financial base for the rest of his life as long as he doesn’t blow it all on bling.
He was basically a top-class League 1 or average Championship player who now has a year at Man Utd on his CV. He will be fine.
Posted 2 years ago # -
keanosakegend
Member Posted by unregistered user: keanosakegendThere is certainly something quite not right about this transfer. To pay a sum of 9 million euros for a guy you have never seen seems downright unprofessional and certainly reckless with the clubs fnances as we were not in great financial shape as it was without wasting funds. The other thing that doesnt add up is that carlos had advised fergie to snap him up. The first time I saw him it was evident there are better players playing out in the local park every weekend and it had to be obvious to carlos to that this guy was not worth a free transfer never mind the sum paid. whether it was some sort of dirty deal as payment for something else which was alleged elsewhere I dont know but there has to be some other reason as his abilities on the pitch made David Bellion look like Pele.
Posted 2 years ago # -
dozer
Member
Blog Commenter said:
Is it confirmed that there is an option to buy at a set price? The reports I have seen is that it is just a loan deal.Yeah, me too, except the first report to come out - daily star said it was a transfer I think. But I haven't really seen a credible source yet.
Sir Ryan Giggs? No no no. Sir Paul Scholes say.Posted 2 years ago # -
Damian Garside
Member Posted by unregistered user: Damian Garside (URL)Good for you, Ed to set him straight on all points. It astonishes me how people will ask for the truth to be bent to accommodate their hopeless faith that no one at United can do any wrong (including lie to us or rip us off) or make any mistakes, or they we are destined by Providence to win everything even with a team that is definitely not the best we have ever seen.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Shazback
Member Posted by unregistered user: ShazbackJohn O’Shea was also loaned abroad (in the Belgian second division…) when he was 21. I don’t think this deal indicates that Fergie thinks Bébé is deadwood yet, but just that he needs more match experience at a level “between” United’s reserves and United’s first team.
He might well be a terrible player, but he’s managing to make pretty good on the occasions given to him. 6 goals in 13 reserve matches, 2 in 7 for the first team (most of which he was a sub for)… He hasn’t proven to be the hit that Hernandez has been, but then again so few players are in their first season. For all I care, if he’s just “lucky” like Inzaghi and manages to get a goal in every 3 or 4 matches whilst coming off the bench, well that’s a decent trick for a striker.
Perhaps there were shenanigans surrounding the “recommendations” that weren’t purely based on footballing skill, but it could just as well be genuine. Sometimes managers see things in players that supporters don’t, and Fergie has done that quite a few times in recent years (only a few seasons ago Fletcher was an incompetent player and Ronaldo was a prancing pony that should be sold ASAP… according to fans). I doubt Bébé will become a vital play for Manchester United in the coming years, but saying that because he’s being loaned out he’ll be a “failure” is perhaps a touch premature. Ferguson has gotten into a habit of loaning abroad young foreign players that aren’t yet able to hold down a position in the first team (on the pitch or the bench) and I’d say there’s roughly an even split between clear successes, clear failures and “average” players : Piqué, Rossi, Manucho, Macheda, Possebon, Tosic, Gibson…
Posted 2 years ago #
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