• Premier League

United offload Bebe to Rio Ave

ESPN staff
December 27, 2012
Bebe has not played for Manchester United since February 2011, © PA Photos
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Manchester United have loaned their £7.4 million forward Bebe to Portuguese side Rio Ave.

The 22-year-old winger, who has not played for United since February 2011, will spent the rest of the season with the side who sit fifth in the Portuguese league.

Bebe also spent last season on loan with Turkish club Besiktas, though he missed six months of the campaign with a knee injury.

He was a surprise signing in the summer of 2010, joining United only five weeks after Vitoria de Guimaraes had recruited him on a free transfer.

Bebe scored two goals in his seven first-team games for United, though one took a heavy deflection, but has never started a Premier League match for the club and has not featured since the FA Cup win over non-league Crawley, when Sir Alex Ferguson admitted he lost his temper with his young players.

And he has not even been named on the bench so far this season, suggesting his United first-team career could be over.

Bebe told Rio Ave's club website: "I'm fully prepared to play and happy to wear the jersey of Rio Ave. "Obviously something went wrong in the last phase of my career - I had a serious injury which thankfully has recovered well. But everything has changed. I'm fine physically, I was always training and playing. I've come here to show what I'm worth."

United will also allow another young forward to go out on loan, with Angelo Henriquez set to join Wigan for the second half of the season.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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