Bebe signing investigated

Police in Portugal are planning to question Manchester United about the club's €9m (£7.2m) signing of the striker Bébé from the Portuguese club Vitória Guimarães, as part of their criminal investigation into the deal.

The judicial police national unit for combating corruption, part of the Justice Ministry based in Lisbon, is investigating the 11 August 2010 transfer, by which United paid that fee for a player whose only competitive experience was a single season in the Portuguese third division.

Bébé's agent, appointed days before he moved to United, was Jorge Mendes, also agent to Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani and Anderson, who moved from Portuguese clubs to Old Trafford in previous seasons. Of the €9m United paid to Vitória for Bébé, Mendes was paid 40%, €3.6m (£2.89m). It was reported in Vitória's subsequent general meeting that Mendes's €3.6m comprised a 10% agent's commission, €900,000, and the further €2.7m because Mendes had also just acquired 30% of Bébé's "economic rights", part-ownership of the player.

Sir Alex Ferguson said at the time that Bébé was the only player he had signed in his long managerial career without having watched him at all first, even on video. United said Bébé had been recommended by Carlos Queiroz, coach of the Portugal national team, formerly Ferguson's assistant at Old Trafford.

On 10 April, the police anti-corruption unit in Lisbon wrote to Bébé's former agent, Gonçalo Reis, asking him to attend at their headquarters and as a witness to provide his account of what happened in the deal. The letter informed Reis that a processo-crime – literally, criminal proceedings – "relate to the transfer of the professional football player Tiago Manuel Dias Correia (known as 'Bébé') from Vit. Guimarães to Manchester United (England)."

The police unit declined to officially confirm to the Guardian the scope of their inquiries or what precise aspects of the transfer they are investigating. Reis has complained formally to the Portuguese Football Federation that Mendes improperly poached Bébé from him before very quickly sealing the United move, in breach of Fifa's regulations governing the conduct of agents.

Reis told the Guardian that on 23 April he was interviewed for around three hours by a police inspector, José Cunha Ribeiro, at the anti-corruption unit's offices. Reis said the police asked him in detail about every aspect of the transfer, and told him they plan to ask United for their version of the deal. Subsequently Reis emailed several documents to the inspector, including his contract to represent Bébé.

A spokesman for United said: "Clearly if the police ask us for information, we will co-operate with them. Nobody is suggesting that we have done anything wrong."

Mendes and his agency Gestifute did not respond to the Guardian's questions about the police investigation. They have previously denied poaching Bébé from Reis. In his complaint to the PFF, Reis claims he had an exclusive contract to represent Bébé as the player's agent for two years from 25 August 2009. Bébé, who had a poor, deprived childhood, his parents having abandoned him, was still living in a care home when he played for Estrela da Amadora, in Portugal's semi-professional third division, in 2009-10.

He played one full season as a striker for Estrela, then after they failed to pay him because the club was in financial difficulties, Reis negotiated the termination of the player's contract and Bébé became a free agent. He moved to Vitória, a first division club, in June 2010, with Reis brokering the terms of the contract. For a time Bébé lived in Reis's house as he came to terms with making his way into professional football. He played in just six pre-season friendlies for Vitória when a story appeared in Marca, the Spanish football newspaper, that Real Madrid, managed by José Mourinho, a client of Mendes, were suddenly interested in signing him. United have always said they then moved rapidly to sign him, on the recommendation of Queiroz, who is also represented by Mendes.

According to Reis's official complaint, on 9 August, 2010 he received a letter from Bébé, dated 5 August, in which Bébé sacked Reis as his agent. Two days later, on 11 August, Bébé was transferred to United, who paid €9m to Guimarães for him, and gave the player a three-year full professional contract on wages Reis believes are €63,000 a month, net of tax. It emerged subsequently that Mendes had become the agent and owner of 30% of Bébé's economic rights, too, and made €3.6m from the United deal.

At United in 2010-11, Bébé was selected to start two matches in the Carling Cup and one in the FA Cup – the fifth round 1-0 victory over Crawley Town – and made four further appearances as a substitute. He scored when he came off the bench against Bursaspor in a Champions League game in Turkey in November 2010. After a year, United sent him on loan to the Turkish club Besiktas, which has several Portuguese players on the books. He has been injured for much of the time and although still contracted to United, spent much of his rehabilitation back in Portugal.


Jorge Mendes, only non madrid official to have a parking spot at the Bernabeu

I wonder how much of those 30M we paid for Cacktraw he got lol

I'm happy for this guy.

Mendes probably just picked him up off the street told him to "stay calm,I got this" and all in all he got a 3 year pro contract and a couple million out of the deal and now he can go back and relax in Portugal.

suddenly my theory that madrid bought sahin just for the tax write-off doesn't seem so implausible does it

Probably THE worst signing EVER. This is on par with Ali Dia getting his cousin to call Souness pretending to be George Weah

Lex wrote:Probably THE worst signing EVER. This is on par with Ali Dia getting his cousin to call Souness pretending to be George Weah

We should not even call that a transfer . it was a joke
It's like Man U signs me tomorrow

hope Jorge Mendes gets locked up, getting fed up of all these Portuguese players we are signing recently that he is representing

"Jorge's reserved parking bay in Madrid" *sigh* tell me about it

i heard SAF didnt even watch 1 game b4 signing him....
I wish he can sign me :[

I doubt Jorge Mendes will be found guilty of anything, it looks pretty legit, even though there might have been ill intentions, but I don't see where exactly the crime is.

Reis was Bebe agent, Bebe sacked him a few days before his transfer, Bebe then sold his 30% economic rights to Jorge Mendes for a reported £100,000. Mendes brokered his transfer to United and took away a cool £3,000,000 in agent fees and economic rights sale.

Jorge must be a very smart business man to manage Ronaldo, Mourinho, Falcao, Pepe, Nani, Anderson, Coentrao, Di Maria and Carvalho. He still owns 30% of Falcao soon and from the look of things, he's going to get richer soon when Atletico is forced to sell their star striker to pay the debt they owe to Porto

I remember when this signing was announced and there always seemed to be something a little shady to it. No one had seen the kid play and less fortunate kids have become legendary footballers before but it always felt like this signing was shady in some way. I guess we'll see.

Lex wrote:Probably THE worst signing EVER. This is on par with Ali Dia getting his cousin to call Souness pretending to be George Weah

I'll go ahead and bump it up for those who haven't heard.

Debt collectors went to the Premier League champions' Carrington training base looking for the Portuguese attacker

Bailiffs turned up at the Red Devils' HQ last week demanding to speak with the £7 million flop.

Goal contacted Greater Manchester Police who confirmed that “shortly before 11am on Saturday 13 July 2013, police were called to a training complex on Isherwood Road, Carrington.

Bebe had been training that morning but the bailiffs were unable find him. The word is he was smuggled out in the boot of a car!

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896/premier-league/2013/07/20/4131526/bailiffs-visit-manchester-united-training-complex-in-search
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lol wow

he will be back on the streets soon

and when he is I'm going to buy the rights to a movie on his "career" for a cup of coffee and a packet of space raiders

Bebe  

God knows what they would turn up if they investigated every Mendes' signing.

But they were definitely extra sloppy with this one.

Smuggled out in a car?

This guy's life is a hit movie in the making. 

Bebe will come good! you just wait


inb4someonetakesmeseriously

LMAO

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/q71/s720x720/970793_607799025919032_1453563945_n.jpg

For those who don't get it, Reading are called The Royals.

that's pretty good