When we signed Bebe we knew we were taking a risk. For a player with his background we were always leaving ourselves open to scrutiny and the fee didn’t help. When Sir Alex confessed he hadn’t even seen the 20 year old play that was all the ammunition the papers needed, Bebe had a target on his back.
Last week there were rumblings from a well known Guardian journo that the Portuguese player had looked less than impressive in training. Now where this journalist got this info from is still up in the air and whilst I doubt it’s validity let’s assume it’s true. Aged 20 at a new club and in a new country unable to speak the language, he could be forgiven for being slightly over awed by the new and unfamiliar situation he faced but this didn’t seem to matter to whoever made these discouraging comments.
The fact he joined with Smalling and Hernandez was also going to count against him as both appeared to fit seamlessly into the team and thus the same standard would be expected of him, despite the fact that all 3 came from different backgrounds and this probably wasn’t be taken into account by those who were quick to slate him.
Well without bothering to check the legitimacy of this, it appears other news sources are running with this story too and today The Daily Mail stated:
And it now appears that the former Vitoria Guimaraes player is taking so much time to settle that United reserve team boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer decided not to include him in the 16-man squad to face local rivals Manchester City in Hyde last night.
Whilst the Irish Times, although offering a little more, followed stating,
The Guardian has established that the first impressions of Bebe have been below expectations. In particular, his touch and control has not been of the standard the club demands.
The problem with both is that they set up the opposition in themselves. In the Daily Mail quote they talk about him taking so much time to settle in. Do they not realise this is a player who was signed just 14 DAYS AGO!? Even worse the Irish Times unashamedly confirm that their piece is based off the hear-say of this Guardian journalist.
I will confess I had heard he would play against City last night but this too was hear say and there are a number of reasons as to why he didn’t, saying that he has been unimpressive in training just seems like the easiest way to get reads or shift a couple of copies.
It was known that Bebe was not anywhere near the complete article when we signed him but his attributes meant that he would definitely be one for the future. It’s just a shame that for some his future appears to have come 14 days after it was announced that he would be joining the club. He hasn’t even kicked a ball in anger in United’s colours yet so here is an idea, lets judge him after he plays rather than before?
Sounds reasonable right?
Daniel Taylor makes shit up. I’m a City supporter and he makes shit up about City, so it doesn’t surprise me at all to learn he also makes shit up about United.
What does surprise me at times is that the editorial control at the Guardian is slack enough to allow him to consistently write articles with often misleading and usually deliberately provocative headlines. This is just one of many examples. And it is by no means amongst the worst.
“Sir Alex Ferguson’s ‘instinct’ in signing Bebé looks to be off mark”
Now, I’m not trying to start a pointless slanging match with this next comment. But you don’t have the kind of money to spend on transfers that you once had. Fair enough? That being the case, you have to take a different approach to the transfer market, which will require you to try and get “more bang for your buck” and look for bargains. That means signing younger players and hoping they will fulfill their potential.
Now, when you do that, sometimes it works out, and sometimes it doesn’t. So:
1 – As Chudi says, it’s waaaaay too early to judge either way right now in this case
2 – If it doesn’t work out, that’s the gamble (as Chudi also says)
But doesn’t that headline suggest to you that Ferguson is slipping in some way? That he has made a serious error? And this is what winds me up about Daniel Taylor. Sensationalist bollocks on a consistent basis. And also making shit up. Did I mention that bit?
anderson was 1 year younger when we signed him an he was fine.Plus bebe has nani an anderson hu speak portuguese so cant be that bad.Its jus cause hes shit an fergie has wasted 7.4 million i wouldn’t be surprised if he never plays for us
Thanks for the insight Jack, calling a player shit who you’ve never seen play! Fans like this and all that eh?
I love the Jack’s simple formula. Maybe the front office should hire you if you can determine who will work out within a matter days.
Jack at his first day in OT’s front office:
Jack: “Well, this one speaks the same language and is a similar age, so his experience must relate directly in every way to the other guy.”
SAF: “My God, you’re a genius and certainly my successor.”
Jack: “Bow down in presence of greatness bitch”
@MickyFitz
Stop your logic and sound reasoning – you’re making it harder to simplify and demonize City supporters. We prefer City trolls on this site.
Only one thing doesn’t make sense to me here – paying £7m for a player from the Portugese third division who was practically unknown even in Portugal. It would be bonkers.
United have never oficially confirmed the price, it may actually be much less, in which case there may be some sense in it. But I think the club are letting us think they have spent £7m just so they can pretend we are still spending. I hope Bebe doesn’t pay the price for this ruse because that £7m number is creating expectations and media attention that he may not be able to cope with.
People keep talking about him being “dropped” from the reserve quad but that team had 6 full internationals in it and 6 u21 internationals in it. Its the strongest 2nds team we’ve ever fielded to be honest so it’s hardly a shock that a 20 y/o new to the club wasn’t played.
Oh and btw, good article
Btw again. Here are my extended views on the matter………http://olliewilliefc.tumblr.com/post/1011981117/this-whole-bebe-was-dropped-from-the-reserves-is
I don’t think the last couple summer signings of Manchester Utd have made any improvement to the club at all. Infact, we are going backwards comparing to the last 3 seasons when Ronaldo and Tevez were still playing in the side.
United lose TOP-CLASS PLAYERS but bring in just FINE PLAYERS. I also believe that the scout of Man.Utd. are not producing any effiency of work in the transfer market at all. The money spent this summer for all 3 players are nearly 30 million pounds, which I can’t see any value from them at all. There is no top class player but WHY??? Why United spend their limited amount of money like this???
All people keep saying that Man.Utd. are in serious situation of DEBT!!! But why they spend nearly 30 million pounds for these players which none of them is regarded or rated as top class player??? Why we signed BEBE for 7.4 million without seeing him playing??? Is there any corruption behind the scene??? If not, the better way for United is to change their scout in the transfer market…
@ Gazzaro you can’t be serious mate. It’s too hard to tell yet about this latest group of kids but at the very least you can’t think Hernandez was an error in judgement. We bought him for 7mill weeks before he lead his country in scoring in the world cup. He’s scored 8 goals in 11 games since he joined us. You need your head checked.
I’ll not weigh in on the debt because to be honest, I dont know enough about it other than what I’ve read which is mainly reports rather than facts.