Ones to Watch - Bebé: He might not be the new Cristiano, but he’s actually pretty good

He’s arguably the most well-known player in the Rayo squad, Bebé, but in the main that isn’t due to his on-field displays but instead for his transfer to and subsequently unsuccessful period at Manchester United 6 years ago. Sir Alex Ferguson famously admitted that he had broken a habit of a lifetime by signing someone he hadn’t even seen play once: “This was a first for me, but we rate our scouting department very highly and our scout in Portugal was adamant we needed to do something, and quickly.”

It sounded like something out of a fairytale: young boy from an orphanage, only played 3rd division football in Portugal signs for the biggest club in world football for £7.4m. There were rumours of interest from Real Madrid and Barcelona, too. Unfortunately the dream turned into something of a nightmare for young Bebé as failed to make one Premier League start whilst on the books at Manchester United.

He was loaned out to Besiktas but suffered a cruciate ligament injury when on international duty with the Portugal U21 side, forcing him to miss six months of the season. Surprisingly his loan deal wasn’t cancelled and he made a return to the Besiktas side but was then banished from the squad after failing to adhere to the team curfew, instead preferring to stay in a local nightclub until 5:30am. In total he managed just 33 minutes of playing time at Besiktas before returning to England.

Despite a bright start to preseason he couldn’t find his way into the first team picture at United and found himself out on loan again in January 2013. He went back to his native Portugal this time, joining Rio Ave until the end of the season. He finally showed what he was capable of at Paços de Ferreira the following year, also on loan. He almost singlehandedly kept them in the Primeira Liga, scoring 11 league goals. He even scored the first goal in their vital relegation play-off match against Desportivo das Aves.

Manchester United still didn’t see a future for him at the club but his displays in Portugal earned him a move to the previous season’s treble winners Benfica. Then manager Jorge Jesus said of Bebe, “(He) never experienced youth development. He was introduced to football late and he lost a lot of time in England. His development will be equal to Talisca’s, Matic’s and Andre Gomes’ – they were all late bloomers.” Despite those claims the young winger made just one appearance for Benfica in the league before being loaned out again, this time to La Liga and Cordoba.

In Spain he showed glimpses of his ability but he found it tough going in a Cordoba side that was in freefall, devoid of confidence and one that was perhaps already guilty of preparing for life in the second tier. He started the first 18 games for Cordoba but only registered a single assist.

It felt like Bebé had hit another roadblock in his career until Rayo Vallecano gave him a second opportunity to impress in Spain. The Madrid-based side had lost a raft of attacking players such as Alberto Bueno and Gael Kakuta but Paco Jemez saw him as a guy that could offer something different in the final third.

Jemez is perhaps the perfect coach for Bebé. Still only 25, the young winger needs to feel wanted, to feel loved by those around him. A turbulent career has left him feeling vulnerable to a lack of self-belief at times and in Paco Jemez, he’s found someone that will give him all the assurances he requires as long as he gives 100% on the pitch. “I’m here to do what the coach Paco Jemez tells me to do every day and what I want is to continue working hard and improve.”

That newfound trust has pushed Bebé onto another level, similar to that which he reached while playing for Paços de Ferreira in Portugal. There’s a noticeable spring in Bebé’s step and it shows every time he takes to the field, especially after a rough start to life there. Whereas last season at Cordoba he was getting himself into good positions but ultimately choosing the wrong option, this year his decision-making has been exemplary. He scored a fantastic freekick against Sevilla, also coming up with an assist in a game that Rayo would cruelly lose at the death. He provided another assist at the weekend against Barcelona.

Comfortable on either wing, no one is claiming that Bebé is going to become the new Cristiano Ronaldo but he’s certainly going the right way about proving Jorge Jesus right in relation to his ‘late bloomer’ tag. Sometimes we forget that footballers are humans too and for someone like Bebé, who has experienced such a difficult childhood, all he needed was a bit of faith shown in him. Now reunited with members of his immediate family, it feels like he can finally start to fully concentrate on matters on the field as opposed to off it.

He was an outside bet to make Portugal’s World Cup squad in 2014 after his fine form in the season leading up to the tournament in Brazil. Perhaps it’s a tough ask for Bebé to make the squad for next summer’s Euros having not played in any of their qualifying campaign, but you never know. If he continues to perform as he has in recent months it wouldn’t be a major surprise to see him force his way into Fernando Santos’ thoughts.

Time will tell, but at last we’re getting to see the talented young player everyone expected him to be at Manchester United. Who knows, we might even get to see Bebé light up the Premier League again in the future - stranger things have happened.