I flopped at Man Utd and would fly to Portugal on days off… I was treated like a king but did so many things wrong
MANCHESTER UNITED flop Bebe believes he would have been a success at Old Trafford if his attitude was different.
The winger was signed for around £8.5million in 2010 – just a year after turning professional.
But he played just seven times for United, scoring twice, before joining Besiktas on loan and eventually Benfica on a permanent deal.
However Bebe puts his lack of success in Manchester down to his bad attitude, rather than a lack of talent.
He admits he could have been more professional and blames a lack of guidance, suggesting he got a bit “lost” following his move to Old Trafford.
Bebé told ESPN: “If I knew then what I know now, I’d have been [at United] for many more years.
“I’d sleep more. I wouldn’t do so many crazy things. When I had a day off, I used to take a plane to Portugal.
“[Today] I’d look after myself more as a professional, look after my body, focus on football. I was there [at United], but in my head, I was on holiday with my friends.
“But I don’t regret it. You have to think, I went from having nothing, in an orphanage, to a place with the biggest stars in the world. They were the best team around at that moment.
“I think it’s normal that a 20-year-old kid gets a bit lost. I didn’t have a father. I didn’t have my mother or my grandmother to say ‘No, don’t do that.’ It was me, and I did whatever I wanted.
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“Wherever I went, I was treated like a king. People gave me things. I could buy whatever I wanted. So I felt like a king… A father can tell you ‘You can’t do that’ or punish you. You need that sometimes. If I’d been living with my grandmother [in Manchester], it might have been different.”
Bebe, 33, also revealed how his grandma “tricked” him into spending 10 years in an orphanage.
The Rayo Vallecano star was told he was going to a holiday home aged just nine-years-old, but ended up in an orphanage home to 150 children.
He detailed his story, saying: “She [grandma] tricked me. She took advantage of the fact that I was the youngest, and she put me in an orphanage.
“At first, she told me I was going to a holiday home. She said I’d be there Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And I was there for 10 years.
“Imagine. Nine-years-old. I was just nine-years-old when I got there.
“All kinds of things happened there. Serious things, things a child shouldn’t see or hear … but [the people there] were also my friends. My best friends are five or six people who lived there with me. They were my family.
“Everything that I have today, I learnt there, from my friends, the people who were there who helped me.”