Sir Alex Ferguson signing says he should have played at Man Utd for years, it was his own fault

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Arguably the worst signing of the Sir Alex Ferguson era was an unknown Portuguese forward named Bebe.

Bebe cost Manchester United a fee of £7 million, and his surprise arrival came at a time when Sir Alex Ferguson was moaning about there being ‘no value in the market’.

The young forward went onto struggle at Old Trafford, where he only made seven appearances, although did score twice.

United fans are still haunted by his poor attempts to cross a ball in a Premier League game against Wolves, and Bebe’s name is rarely mentioned in connection with Manchester United without the word ‘flop’.

Now 33, Bebe has managed to carve out a good career for himself in Spain, currently playing for Rayo Vallecano in La Liga, where he has four goals in all competitions, the same as loanee Mason Greenwood, who is reportedly attracting interest from Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

Bebe says he wasted Manchester United chance

In a new interview with ESPN, Bebe believes he could have been a success at Manchester United, and blames himself.

He says he did not appreciate how committed he needed to be to maximising his opportunity, which was over as quickly as it started.

Bebe explained: “If I knew then what I know now, I’d have been [at United] for many more years.

“I’d sleep more. I wouldn’t do so many crazy things. When I had a day off, I used to take a plane to Portugal. … [Today] I’d look after myself more as a professional, look after my body, focus on football. I was there [at United], but in my head, I was on holiday with my friends.

“But I don’t regret it. You have to think, I went from having nothing, in an orphanage, to a place with the biggest stars in the world.

“They were the best team around at that moment. I think it’s normal that a 20-year-old kid gets a bit lost. I didn’t have a father. I didn’t have my mother or my grandmother to say ‘No, don’t do that.’ It was me, and I did whatever I wanted.”

Bebe did have the greatest manager of all time leading his way, but Sir Alex Ferguson was at a stage of his career where he did not have the patience to indulge players who were not giving absolutely everything to be a success.

The former United man gives his reasons for ‘getting lost’ at United, which are understable on a human level. From a football perspective, he did not reach the levels the club hoped.

Bebe has bounced back

Bebe deserves credit for the way he has maintained a career since United. After the way he flamed out, many would have predicted he would be out of the game by 33.

He has also dealt with two ACL knee injuries, and become an international striker for Cape Verde, where he has four goals in 11 appearances.

Bebe has struck 24 goals in total for Spanish side Rayo Vallecano, also enjoying spells at Eibar, Real Zaragoza, and in Portugal with Rio Ave and Pacos Ferreira, where he netted 14 goals in 39 games.

There was a game in La Liga a couple of seasons ago where he managed to outshine Manchester United loanee Anthony Martial, who was at Sevilla at the time, while he has also had a spell partnering ex-Red Devils loan striker Radamel Falcao at Rayo.

Bebe was never going to be the ‘next Ronaldo’ or even the ‘next Nani’. But he might have been more than he was at Manchester United, if he had taken his opportunity a little more seriously.