Notorious flop Bebe genuinely thought Manchester United interest was a joke

Not even Bebe could believe that Manchester United wanted to sign him.

The Portuguese forward was snapped up by the Red Devils, after just a month at his club Vitoria de Guimares, for the princely sum of £7million. As the infamous tale goes, Sir Alex Ferguson was believed to have only met Bebe a day before buying him and never saw him play. Fergie was allegedly convinced to sign the then 20-year-old by assistant Carlos Queiroz via agent Jorge Mendes. Speaking to Spanish daily AS, Bebe revealed he was as shocked as everyone else when United came looking for him.

“It was very fast, a surprise. One day I was training and was suddenly told to go, I would sign a five-year contract. I didn’t know if it was a joke." “It was the dream of many children, it seems crazy. When I arrived I was there with the best in the world. It took me a while, taking deep breaths the first week, but I got used to it.”

Bebe was a complete flop at Old Trafford, making just seven appearances for United in 2010-11 but still managing to score twice. That record may not sound too shabby, but he never started a Premier League match and once suffered the embarrassment of being a substitute who was substituted. He came on for Owen Hargreaves after just 10 minutes of United’s 2-1 win over Wolves in November 2010, but was later taken off on the 75 minute mark after a lacklustre shift. He left for Besiktas on loan in the summer of 2011 and, several failed loans later, he signed for Benfica in 2014. He is currently on loan (again) at La Liga oufit Rayo Vallecano.