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Tiago Manuel Dias Correia
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Tiago Manuel Dias Correia
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Tiago Manuel Dias Correia (born 12 July 1990), better known by his nickname Bébé, is a Portuguese footballer who plays as a winger or a forward for Manchester United. He can play on either flank, as a target man or as a support striker.
Bébé is the son of Cape Verdean immigrants and is now the third player of Cape Verdean descent to join Manchester United; the others are Portuguese international winger Nani and former Swedish international Henrik Larsson. He was given his nickname, which means baby in Portuguese, by his older brother.
Bébé was abandoned as a young child by his father, Francisco, and his mother, Deolinda. He was consequently raised by his grandmother in a rough suburb of Lisbon, until the age of 12, when a court placed him in the care of the church. He moved to the Casa do Gaiato shelter in Santo Antao do Tojal, 20 km outside Lisbon. During his time there, he and seven other residents of the shelter were invited to play for the CAIS team in the 2009 European Street Football Festival in the Bosnian town of Foča. Despite Bébé scoring 40 goals in six matches, CAIS did not progress beyond the second group stage of the tournament.
It was alleged that Bébé had participated in the Homeless World Cup, but these reports were found to be false. He was considered for selection for the national homeless squad after his performance in the European Street Football Festival, but he ultimately did not play in the tournament.
Early career
Bébé was signed by Portuguese Second Division side Estrela da Amadora in the summer of 2009 having previously played for amateur side Loures.
His former agent, Gonçalo Reis, revealed that Bébé was offered to PSV Eindhoven for free in May 2010. However, PSV turned down the offer as they did not know him.
He was then signed by Vitória de Guimarães in the summer of 2010 on a free transfer after Estrela failed to pay his wages. He signed a five-year contract with a €9 million release clause. However, he did not play an official match for the club; it was his pre-season form, scoring five goals in six games, that alerted some of Europe's big clubs, including Real Madrid.
On 11 August 2010, only five weeks after he signed for Vitória de Guimarães, Manchester United agreed an undisclosed fee with the Portuguese club for the transfer of Bébé. The fee was reported to be around £7.4 million, believed to be the value of the buy-out clause in the forward's contract. Though reports in Portugal later claimed the fee was €9 million, which the agent company Gestifute received €3.5 million (included agent fee) and the club only received €5.5million (about 60%), as third-party ownership is allowed in Portugal. It was also reported that Real Madrid and Benfica were interested in him. Bébé was recommended to Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson by Portugal national team coach Carlos Queiroz, Ferguson's former assistant. Ferguson only met him the day before the transfer. On 12 August 2010, David Gill stated that Bébé will not be sent out on loan and that he will join up with the first-team squad to prove himself and to learn English. The transfer was completed on 16 August, following Bébé's medical and the submission of the appropriate paperwork, and he was unveiled to the media at a press conference the following day, along with fellow new signings Javier Hernández and Chris Smalling.
On 6 September 2010, he was announced as part of the 25-man squad for Manchester United to play in the UEFA Champions League. On 22 September 2010, Bébé made his debut for Manchester United as he replaced Park Ji-Sung in the 74th minute of a 5–2 away victory over Scunthorpe in the League Cup. On 2 October 2010, he made his Premier League debut, replacing Anderson in the 80th minute in their 0–0 draw against Sunderland. His first start came against Wolves in the Fourth Round of the League Cup on 26 October where he scored his first goal in the process, netting United's first of a 3–2 home win. His first Champions League goal appeared to come on his debut in the competition, netting the final goal of a 3–0 away victory over Bursaspor on 2 November from a deflection off Ali Tandoğan which was credited as an own goal.
International career
Bébé was a Portugal under-19 international. In August 2010, Bébé was called up to the under-21 squad for the first time for their 2011 European under-21 qualifiers against England and Macedonia in early September. He made his debut for the under-21s, playing as a lone striker in their 1–0 loss to England on 4 September. He then scored his first goal for the under-21 side three days later in their final qualifying game against Macedonia, netting the first in a 3–1 win.
