The signing of Bébé by Manchester United will always be something of a mystery for the Old Trafford faithful.
The Portuguese forward was one of the strangest transfers conducted under Sir Alex Ferguson, but the 32-year-old has managed to forge a decent career for himself, now at Real Zaragoza in Spain.
Whether he continues there remains to be seen, as his contract is up in the summer, but there was a time when the former Manchester United man thought his career was over, revealing so in an interview with AS.
The forward sat down with the newspaper to discuss his present, past and future, and they touched on the serious injuries he sustained while in England and Spain over his career.
Both were knee issues, which can end up seriously affecting or even ending careers, which he discussed.
He said: “It happened when I arrived in England, at a time when I was very well and I was going to be bought by Besiktas, and also when I was at Rayo with Paco Jémez, when I ruptured my cruciate and both menisci. Two years of my life were a bit messed up because they operated on me four times.
“I went to the operating room about twelve times, I lost 11 kilos, I was depressed, people didn’t know what to do… Now I can say that I’m fine, I play, score goals, I’m happy and I enjoy football much more because you come from thinking that you can’t play again. Alberto García and I got injured at the same time and he had to retire because he didn’t recover.”
The once Manchester United player revealed there were ‘several days’ when he thought he wouldn’t be playing again because ‘doctors didn’t know what to do’.
There was a moment when he was ‘already throwing in the towel’, stopping rehabilitation and talking to anyone ‘because it was so bad’.
In the end, he realised it ‘couldn’t end like this’, and kept going until fully recovering.
Determination is everything, and it seemed the man signed by Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United can be very proud of how far he has come since then.
