You can almost imagine Mourinho in a mountain-top lair, stroking a white cat and laughing. But right until the end, Ferguson, again writing in his autobiography, remained adamant he could have been a success. He was not the complete player but we were coaching him to be better.
He had fantastic feet. With feet like that he was capable of scoring 20 goals a season. It's a shame because Bebe's rags-to-riches story deserved a better ending.
Had it been made into a film, he would have scored the winner in the Champions League final. Amazingly, there is still a chance the year-old will get an opportunity on the biggest stage of all this summer.
On loan at Pacos Ferreira in Portugal's top flight, he's scored nine goals in his last 13 games. That will be consigned to history this summer where it will take its place alongside those of Ralph Milne, Massimo Taibi and Dong Fangzhou. Over time, the story has inevitably been exaggerated to give the impression that Bebe was some kind of Ali Dia -esque chancer.
The fact that his transfer to United was later investigated by Portuguese authorities augments that idea. It took time for Bebe to call somewhere home, embarking on a nomadic career throughout his early 20s.
He made just four appearances at Besiktas, on loan from United, in , and then 19, back in Portugal with Rio Ave, the following season. A third and final loan away from Old Trafford saw him produce what was arguably the best football of his senior career, registering 12 goals in 27 appearances for Pacos de Ferreira. It was the best moment of my life! I did not sleep that day! I spent the whole day awake. O Jogo was the only sports edition to consider it front-page news.
The part of Jorge Mendes, as ever, should not be underplayed. So, too, confirmation as to why United saw fit to sign him. The intrigue, by the time of his debut, was palpable.
With YouTube compilations scarce and training clips insufficient, the world waited with bated breath to catch a glimpse of the player Ferguson was willing to break the habit of a career for. Yet the Scot was not even in the dugout when that moment came. Bebe would only play six more times across four different competitions. He scored in his one Champions League game, a well-taken goal from a Paul Scholes pass at Bursaspor, to add to a deflected strike against Wolves in the League Cup.
Short cameos actually suited his explosive pace and power. The problems came when he was required to play for longer. He spent his 64 minutes against Wolves in the Premier League in November delivering aimless crosses at an increasingly exasperated Old Trafford, being substituted after himself replacing the injured Owen Hargreaves in the first half.
Later that same month came a half-time mercy removal during a League Cup defeat to West Ham. He managed to technically outlast both Ferguson and David Moyes, but Louis van Gaal was never likely to offer an olive branch. Perhaps the most curious aspect of a United career that spanned minutes and six months but actually lasted until his sale to Benfica in summer was that Ferguson genuinely rated Bebe.
He included a few effusive paragraphs on the player in his autobiography when most would have expected the matter to have been brushed under the carpet. We took a wee gamble on it, for about 7 million euros.
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