Source: Telegraph
Bebé included in Manchester United's Champions League squad
United submitted their list of 25 players to UEFA last week, with Owen Hargreaves among the names excluded as Sir Alex Ferguson declined to take a chance on a player who has experienced so many injury problems and is currently in the United States receiving treatment with no return date set. [LNB]It seemed Bebé had been left out too, which only intensified the interest in a player that finished last season in the third tier of Portuguese football. [LNB]Arsene Wenger promised transfer funds for Arsenal squadChampions League watch: Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester UnitedBebé was then snapped up by Vitoria Guimaraes but remained there less than two months before Ferguson spent what was believed to be a figure in excess of £7 million on the forward, who was also attracting interest from Real Madrid. [LNB]UEFA have now confirmed the 20-year-old is on the list and would be available for next Tuesday's opening game against Rangers at Old Trafford should Ferguson want him. [LNB]A more likely United debut would be in the Carling Cup tie at Scunthorpe the following week, although even that cannot be taken for granted given Ferguson's recent comments about the player needing to increase his fitness levels. [LNB]Bebé picked up his first cap for the Portugal U21 side in their 1-0 defeat to England U21 on Friday and is also expected to play against Macedonia U21 tomorrow, scuppering Ferguson's plans of selecting him in the reserve team to face Stockport County on Thursday. [LNB]Last month Ferguson defended signing such an unknown quantity. "Ability-wise he's really good, a terrific finisher and we've been very impressed with that," he said. [LNB] "It's just the right fitness levels he needs to get to. We have not done any serious work because we're doing some tests on him. There were one or two areas we needed to work on in terms of his fitness, and that's what we're looking at. [LNB] "It's combining the physical work he's doing with the sports science people, and the football part." [LNB]
