Boss Happy To Take Bebe Steps

Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that new signing Bebe will compete for a berth on United's wings, but insists there is no rush to throw the 20-year-old into action.

Echoing David Gill's sentiments that the youngster's talent needs honing and refining, Sir Alex is keen to initially focus on Bebe's assimilation to English life. With a variety of established and promising wingers already in place at Old Trafford, the United manager is happy to take his time.

"He’s two-footed, he’s very quick, there’s material there," Sir Alex told his pre-Newcastle press conference. "He’s raw material but I’m sure we can work with that. He’s young and we’re good at young players.

"He doesn’t speak any English. That’s got to be addressed obviously, for any player coming from another country, and we provide the language teachers for that. But I think the important thing is allowing him to settle at the club.

"We have good options anyway in the wide positions, in Nani and Valencia in particular starting to show maturity. We’ve got Ryan Giggs, Gabriel Obertan, Tom Cleverley, so we’re okay there. It’s a different type of player, maybe, but we’ll see what he does once he settles. The important thing is to get him integrated into the club and get him to understand what the club’s about. We’re not in a rush with him, there’s no need to rush him."

The signing of the almost unheard-of Portuguese striker stunned football, and Sir Alex has confirmed that the deal was struck largely due to the impulses of United's scouting network.

"When we identify someone with potential, we would normally assess over a longer period," admitted the manager. "But we have a good scout in Portugal and he’s very bright. He’s got a tremendous instinct about the boy and we’ve worked on that impulse.

"Our scouting work was done when he was at Guimaraes. We made our decision on what we saw in those games. Other clubs were starting to hover on the boy so we made a quick decision and said, ‘Why don’t we go for it?’"