Manchester United set to make £5.4m loss on Bebe as striker farmed out to Besiktas
Manchester United have off-loaded £7.4million flop Bebe to Turkish club Besiktas on a season-long loan with a view to a £2m permanent move.
United shocked the football world last summer by agreeing to meet the release clause in Bebe's new contract at Vitoria de Guimaraes in Portugal just five weeks after he had signed from Estrela da Amadora.
The winger had only played third division football and was available for £125,000 from his old club just months earlier.
But the 20-year-old, who grew up in a homeless shelter outside Lisbon, spent most of the season in United's reserves.
His last first-team appearance came against non-League Crawley in the FA Cup in February.
With Ashley Young set to give United more options out wide, Bebe has been allowed to go out on loan but it seems unlikely he will play for the club again.
Meanwhile,
Sir Alex Ferguson is understood to have made a personal call to Udinese's Alexis Sanchez to persuade him to join United ahead of Barcelona. The Chile forward is keen on playing in Spain but Barca are struggling to match Udinese's £30m valuation with possible makeweight Bojan Krkic keen on joining Roma if he has to leave.
And Arsenal are risking a fresh row with Barca by stepping up their efforts to sign 17-year-old wonderkid Gerard Deulofeu.
Sportsmail has learned Gunners chief scout Steve Rowley was in Switzerland this month to watch the talented forward during Spain's Under 19 European Championship qualifying campaign.
His spying mission on Deulofeu, who has been likened to Lionel Messi and Ronaldinho, was a key step in Arsenal's plan to sign him before his 18th birthday next March.
Footballers in Spain are not permitted to sign professional contracts until they are 18 - a rule Arsenal used in 2003 to pluck Cesc Fabregas from Barcelona when he was 16.
Last month, Hector Bellerin and Jon Miquel Toral Harper, both 16, joined the Gunners from Barca's academy.
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