Bebe situation highlights how fickle the media can be

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?

OllieWillie FC, a United blog I like to read was kind enough to share their view on the situation and after reading it, it makes the comments even more ridiculous! Click here for the blog