Having my Bebé
David Conn has the story of how Bebé, the hitherto unknown Vitoria Guimaeres striker, who without playing one single competitive game was sold to Man Utd for £7.4m amidst accusations of poaching by his former agent.
The short of it is that Bebé apparently dumped his former agent without a timely notice and a proper reason before making off with the new agent responsible for bringing him to United. If this holds true, then it contravenes FIFA rules governing player contracts with their agents.
However, what really stands out is how Sir Alex’s former assistant Carlos Quieroz, who was sacked recently as Portugal’s coach and Jorge Mendes, his agent engineered this deal. Mendes was the agent who took over Bebé’s contract and succeeded in making more money for Vitoria.
Sir Alex did not actually attend matches in person or even watch videos of Bebé’s performances. Instead he relied on hearsay from Quieroz and scouts to press David Gill, Man Utd’s CEO to part with the money for the transfer. With United particularly tightfisted with its transfer budget this season, we will soon see if Sir Alex was correct with his ‘instinct.’