Manchester United have spent £7.4m to sign Tiago Manuel Dias Correia, otherwise known as Bébé, a relatively unknown (couldn’t find any quality pics) 20-year-old from the Portuguese club Vitória de Guimarães, the Guardian can reveal. The deal was finalized today, with the player becoming the eighth senior striker at the club.
United have paid the buyout clause to release Bébé – who was raised in an orphanage after spending part of his childhood on the streets and has represented Portugal in the Homeless World Cup – from his five-year contract at Guimarães only five weeks after he joined the club from Estrela da Amadora in the Portuguese third division.
He was recommended to Sir Alex Ferguson by his former assistant, Carlos Queiroz, the Portugal national coach, and a deal has been rushed through for Bébé to become the third signing of the summer at Old Trafford with Ferguson understood to have met the player for the first time yesterday when he flew to Portugal.
Bébé is described as a fast, technically gifted striker, right-footed and strong in the air and 6ft 2in tall. He has shown his potential with several goals in pre-season but his signing still represents a major surprise given Ferguson’s recent insistence that he did not want to add to his squad and the player’s low profile in Portuguese football.