Bebé

At 33 years old, Bebé has this physical status:

Tiago Manuel Dias Correia (born 12 July 1990), also known as Bebé, is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays for Spanish club Rayo Vallecano. Bebé grew up in a homeless shelter near Lisbon, which was abandoned by his parents at a young age.

He began his football career as an amateur with Loures before joining Estrela da Amadora in 2009.

He was signed by Vitória de Guimares a year ago but moved to Manchester United almost immediately for a £7 million fee, despite manager Alex Ferguson's statement that he had never seen Bebé play. Since being unable to make an appearance on Manchester United's first team, he spent time on loan with Turkish side Besiktas and back in Portugal with Rio Ave and Paços de Ferreira before joining Benfica permanently in July 2014.

He joined Eibar in July 2016 after two loan spells in Spain with Córdoba and Rayo Vallecano.

On January 2018, he returned to Rayo Vallecano on another loan term.

He joined Rayo on a permanent basis in August 2018.

Early life

Bebé is the son of Cape Verdean immigrants and is the fourth player of Cape Verdean descent to play for Manchester United; the others are Portuguese international winger Nani, French left-back Patrice Evra, and former Swedish national Henrik Larsson. His older brother gave him his nickname, which means 'baby,' in Portuguese.

Bebé's father Francisco and his mother Deolinda abandoned him as a young child. He was thus raised by his grandmother in a Lisbon suburb until the age of 12, when a court ordered him to be placed in the care of the church. In Santo do Tojal, 20 kilometers south of Lisbon, he went to the Casa do Gaiato shelter. During his stay in Foa, Bosnian town, he and seven other members of the shelter were invited to compete for the CAIS team in the 2009 European Street Football Festival. Despite Bebé's four goals in six games, CAIS did not progress beyond the tournament's second group stage.

After his success in the European Street Football Festival, he was considered for the national homeless squad, but he did not participate in the tournament.

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Club career

Bebé, who has played for amateur sides Loures, was signed by Segunda Diviso side Estrela da Amadora in the summer of 2009. He was regarded as the club's best player in 26 league games last season. Estrela, on the other hand, were plagued by financial difficulties and were tempted to fly around Europe for £125,000, but there were no takers. Bebé was offered to PSV Eindhoven for free in May 2010, but PSV turned down the bid because they did not know anything about the player. When his family's circumstances worsened, they stopped paying their wages, so he ended his employment and joined Portugal's Vitória de Guimares in the summer of 2010. Guimares' initial deal included a €3 million release clause, but it was later raised to €9 million due to his success in pre-season games. In six friendly games, he scored five goals in six separate friendly matches.

Manchester United decided an undisclosed fee with the Portuguese club for the transfer of Bebé on August 11, only five weeks after he signed for Vitória de Guimares. The fee was estimated to be around £7.4 million, thought to be the purchase of the forward's buy-out clause, but reports in Portugal later revealed that the fee was €9 million, of which the agent company GestiFute received €3.5 million and the club received €5.5 million as third-party ownership was allowed in Portugal. Real Madrid and Benfica were also mentioned as a target. Ferguson only knew him the day before the transfer after being told by his former assistant Carlos Queiroz to purchase him. Bebé will not be sent out on loan, not on loan, according to David Gill, who will instead work with the first-team squad to show his worth and learn English. The deal was concluded on August 16th, following Bebé's medical and issuance of the required paperwork, and he was unveiled to the public at a press conference the following day, along with fellow new signings Javier Hernández and Chris Smalling. In 2012, it was reported that Portuguese police were investigating the transfer as part of anti-corruption investigations. Bebé's former agent Reis and his new agent Mendes were questioned by police.

He was announced on September 6th as part of Manchester United's 25-man squad for the Champions League. Bebé made his Manchester United debut on September 22nd as he took over Park Ji-Sung in the 74th minute of a 5–2 away victory over Scunthorpe United in the League Cup third round. He made his Premier League debut on October 2nd, bringing Anderson and Anderson together in the 80th minute of their 0–0 draw against Sunderland. He made his debut against Wolverham Wanderers in the fourth round of the League Cup on Sunday, scoring his first goal in the process, United's first in a 3–2 home victory. On his debut in the sport, he scored the final goal of a 3–0 away victory over Bursaspor on November 2nd. Bebé played the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 home win over non-league Crawley Town in the FA Cup's fifth round on February 19th.

Beşiktaş's Behance loan contract ended on June 16th, 2011, with the option of making the transfer permanent for £2 million. Nonetheless, he sustained a critical ligament injury whilst on international service with the Portugal under-21 team, which would keep him out for six months. Bebé returned from injury and made his debut for Beşiktaş in their Süper Lig match against stanbul Belediyespor on March 26, 2012, but he was forced to leave the bench and replaced Mustafa Pektemek in the 76th minute of the 2–2 draw. Bebé was suspended from the Beşiktaş squad in April 2012 after breaking a team curfew and staying out into the early hours of the morning.

Bebé was selected for Manchester United's pre-season tour after leaving Beşiktaş. He scored an injury-time volley in his first game for Manchester United to prevent a draw. However, he was unable to make the team for the season ahead, and Rio Ave, the Portuguese side, said on December 27 that they had signed Bebé on loan. Manchester United announced the loan on January 1, 2013.

Bebé made his complete debut in the Taça da Liga on January 9th, scoring the only goal of a 1–0 win over Martimo in the 74th minute to qualify for the knockout stage. It was his first league appearance for Rio Ave against Olhanense, where he came off the bench for the remaining 30 minutes of the game. It was his first game for the Portuguese side against Gil Vicente, where he played 85 minutes before being suspended for Ahmed Hassan. Vitória de Guimares's, his erstwhile ancestor, was defeated 3–1 by Vitória de Guimares. Bebé was his first assister for Rio Ave against Martimo, prompting Ahmed Hassan two minutes before half time. He then scored his second goal for Rio Ave's 2–1 victory over Sporting CP, scoring his second goal at the club against Académica on 55 minutes, which was the winning goal. Despite starting six of the last seven Rio Ave games, he didn't manage to find the net after that. He expressed a desire to make his stay in Portugal permanent, despite the fact that he did not receive any assistance in England.

Bebé returned to Portugal for another loan, this time with Paços de Ferreira until the end of the season. In the 4–3 away win over Martimo ten days later, he made his debut against Benfica on September 14th, scoring his first goals in the 4–3 away win over Martimo on Monday. In March, he was in excellent form, scoring six goals in six games. In the season's final game of the season, he scored two goals against Académica, which culminated in his team's loss of the competition in a relegation play-off. Bebé's first goal of his team's 3–1 win over CD Aves on May 21 was his first goal of the season, ranking him as the first goal on the season with 14 goals.

Bebé had signed with Portuguese champions Benfica on a four-year deal, earning the fee estimated to be worth up to €3 million more than half of any future sell-on fee. He was assisting Benfica in winning the 2014 Super Cup in a penalty shoot-out on August ten. He made his debut in Primeira Liga on December 21, 2014 against Gil Vicente, defeating Jonas for the final 25 minutes.

Bebé joined Spanish club Córdoba on a loan contract until the end of the season on January 9, 2015. He made his Spanish debut in La Liga three days later, winning 1–0 at Rayo Vallecano, despite not scoring in 18 games this season.

Bebé joined Rayo Vallecano on a one-year loan on July 10, 2015. He made his debut on August 22, 2015 in a goalless draw against Valencia at the Campo de Ftbol de Vallecas, and scored his first goal for the Madrid-based team on September 26, 2015, losing by a distant 3–2 loss at Sevilla. At the end of the season, they were relegated.

Bebé signed a four-year contract with Eibar, which is also in the Spanish top tier, on July 12, 2016. He made his debut on August 19th with a 2–1 loss at Deportivo de La Corua and his first goal on September 24 to bring the home win over Basques Real Sociedad to the Basques. On loan until the end of the season, he returned to Rayo Vallecano in January 2018.

After agreeing to a three-year deal, Bebé returned to Rayo on a permanent basis on August 31. He sustained a serious knee injury during a match against Ponferradina on October 26, 2019, and was unable to play for more than a year until he returned against Fuenlabrada on October 29, 2020.

International career

Bebé was called up to the Portugal under-21 squad for the first time in August 2010 for their 2011 European under-21 qualifiers against England and Macedonia. In England's 1–0 loss to England on September 3rd, he made his debut as a striker. He scored his first goal for the under-21 team three days later in their final qualifying game against Macedonia, winning by 3–1 victory. Bebé sustained a cruciate ligament injury in his left knee during a friendly match against Slovakia on August 9, 2011 and was expected to miss six months.

Bebé, who was unsure of being considered by Portugal's senior team, expressed his curiosity in being part of the Cape Verde national team and revealed that he had initiated the decumentary process for it, given his Cape Verdean roots. He was supposed to compete in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations with Cape Verde, but he was ultimately not called up. He received his first international call-up for the Cape Verde national team on March 16, 2022. In a 2–0 friendly victory over Guadeloupe, he made his Cape Verde debut, scoring his team's second goal in the 50th minute on his debut.

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