When Alex Ferguson broke his own rules to sign Bebe - the flop is still playing now | OneFootball

Throughout his tenure as Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson had an impressive success rate when it came to his work in the transfer market.

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The Scotsman almost never missed when it came to recruiting talent for the Red Devils. Whether it was identifying hot prospects like an 18-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo at Sporting Lisbon, or unearthing hidden gems like Ole Gunnar Solskjaer from Molde, Ferguson did a great job and a large reason for that, was the major rule he always followed when it came to signing talent.

Well, almost always anyway.

Alex Ferguson's rule when signing players

The former Aberdeen manager was adamant he had to watch any potential transfer play in person first. The move would allow him to see first-hand what they might be able to bring to United, and he'd get a grasp of their strengths and weaknesses, allowing him to assess whether a move would make sense, and obviously, his method usually worked.

Unfortunately, he decided to bypass the rule on one occasion, and it probably served as a reminder of why he'd been following it for so long. In 2011, he was encouraged by his assistant manager at the time, Carlos Queiroz, to pursue an unknown Portuguese winger called Bebe. So he did, bringing him to Old Trafford without watching him first and, well, it certainly didn't bare the fruits they were looking for.

Who is Bebe?

While Bebe's move to United didn't have a fairy tale ending, his life before football certainly merited one. Having grown up in a small city called Loures in Portugal, the winger was placed into a Lisbon orphanage at the age of 12 as his parents couldn't afford to look after him anymore.

What was obviously a devastating fate, would actually benefit Bebe tremendously, and it was during his time at the orphanage that he learned how to play football properly and quickly worked on his skills as a tremendous player.

He would play for Portugal in the 2008 Homeless World Cup and scored a monumental 40 goals in six matches, quickly catching the attention of clubs in his homeland.

He was soon signed by Estrela da Amadora in the Portuguese third division and spent a year with the club before landing a move to Vitoria de Guimaraes in the summer of 2010 with the chance to play in the Primera Division awaiting him, but before he had the chance to make his debut for the club, United came calling.

How did Bebe do at Manchester United?

After scoring five goals in six pre-season matches for Vitoria de Guimaraes, United met Bebe's release clause of £7.4m and brought him to the Premier League just five weeks after his move to the Portuguese club.

It was a whirlwind move, with the Red Devils acting quickly as the winger had caught the attention of a number of top European sides, and they didn't want to miss out.

Ferguson had abandoned his rule of watching the player in person first, but for good reason he thought, saying: “I know Real Madrid were hovering and so were Benfica. It was one of those decisions that had to be made quickly.

“Sometimes you have to go on instinct, and sometimes you have to trust your staff as well. This was a first for me, but we rate our scouting department very highly and our scout in Portugal was adamant we needed to do something.”

Things actually started fairly bright for the now-32-year-old in Manchester as well, with two goals in his first couple of months at United, but it quickly went downhill from there.

After a couple of lacklustre performances, he soon found first-team football hard to come by and made just seven appearances during his debut campaign at Old Trafford. Not only that, but he never played for the club again.

Several loan spells soon followed over the next few seasons, and his nightmare time in England came to an end in 2014 when he joined Benfica, heading back to Portugal.

Where is Bebe now?

If he'd hoped his move to Benfica would bring about more success than his spell in England, Bebe was soon left disappointed. He made just six appearances for the club before he was loaned out a couple of times to Cordoba CF and Rayo Vallecano.

After impressing Vallecano, he left Benfica on a permanent deal, heading to Spain and signing with Eibar where he'd spend the next three seasons. His first season at the club was promising, with five goals in 26 appearances across all competitions, but that was as good as it got at the club for Bebe.

The year after he arrived, he was loaned out to Vallecano again, and after a couple more seasons at Eibar, where he would make just a further 13 appearances for the side, he would finally join Los Franjirrojos on a permanent basis.

He's since spent the last five seasons at Vallecano, scoring 14 goals in 112 games for the club and has been playing on a consistent basis for the first time in his career.

After being a first-team figure for the club throughout his first four seasons, his playing time dwindled this year, though, and he was once again heading out on loan as he joined Real Zaragoza in the Segunda Division. He made 16 appearances for the club and scored four goals, but it's unclear what the future will hold for him now as he heads back to Vallecano.

His career hasn't been quite the disaster he'd have feared following his poor spell in England, but it's safe to say he never quite lived up to the hype that United bought into back in the summer of 2010. It had to have taken something special to encourage Ferguson to break his own rule and sign Bebe without having ever watched him play in person, but the move will have only helped strengthen the Scotsman's resolve in the future, ensuring he never allowed himself to do so again.