‘Leaving Man Utd was best moment of my life – I asked my agent every day to get me out’

Sir Alex Ferguson admitted he had never seen new arrival Bebe play before signing him in 2010, and the Portuguese ace revealed he wanted out of Old Trafford almost instantly

Former Manchester United forward Bebe revealed that leaving Old Trafford was the best moment of his life.

Sir Alex Ferguson turned heads when he infamously signed the then 20-year-old Portuguese ace in 2010 just weeks after the club they paid £7.2million to for his services, Vitoria, had recruited him from second-division obscurity.

Bebe would go on to have a nightmarish spell at Old Trafford, having signed after playing just six professional games in his life. He mustered just one more than that appearance-wise in a senior United shirt while scoring two goals in all – one against Wolves in the League Cup and a right-footed strike in a 3-0 win against Bursaspor in the Champions League group stage.

A series of loans dragged out his United tenure before he was eventually sold in 2014 to Benfica, which Bebe revealed was one of the best moments of his life.

“It wasn’t that [I didn’t believe in myself], I just know what life is like and I think anyone would have the same thought as me,” Bebe told Goal in 2018.

“If you are playing in the third or fourth division in Portugal and suddenly one of the best teams in the world calls you, I think anyone would think ‘can this actually be true?’

“Every day I called my agent to ask him to get me out. It was a bad time. When you do not play, even if you are at a great club, then you are not happy, so why continue?

“I remember that I was going for a United game with the youth team, and my agent called me and told me I had been sold to Benfica. It was the best moment of my life.”

Reflecting on his career, Bebe, who was abandoned by his parents as a child and grew up in an orphanage, believes that he cannot regret the move entirely as it handed him his big break.

“I can’t regret something that has given me so much food, that changed my life and the life of my family. United gave me everything,” Bebe continued. “That’s where everything started for me.

“I could have a car, a house, I could buy things that I couldn’t have bought before. I could help my family and friends in things they couldn’t do… I do not regret anything. It was a very good decision from me and my agent.

“If I had the mentality then that I have today, I would definitely still be there. I would be in a team like that. But I had a different childhood from the others, and the attitudes and thoughts I had were different.

“That did not help me at all, not that I regret it. But now I would tell my younger self to train more, to be more concentrated, to be more professional.”

The 34-year-old eventually found a long-term home with Madrid-based Rayo Vallecano, who he twice joined on loan before signing for permanently in 2018. This year he finally left the club and made the move down to second-division side Racing de Ferrol for the 2024/25 campaign.

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