Manchester United Sign A Talented, Young Homeless Guy (UPDATE)

In a real life football reimagining of Charles Dickens's greatest novel-turned-musical, Oliver Twist, Sir Alex Ferguson has gotten all Mr Brownlow about it, and signed a former Homeless World Cup star for Man United.

Playing Oliver to Wayne Rooney's Artful Dodger and Michael Owen's Nancy is a former street kid from Portugal called Tiago Manuel Dias Correia—or Bebe for short.

A recommendation from the former Man United assistant manager/now Portugal coach, Carlos Queiroz, was enough to convince Fergie to splash out £7million on the 20-year-old, of whom his former coach, Jorge Paixao, had this to say:

"He was raised on the streets and that's where he learned to play his football."

"All the players come through youth academies now and they're all the same."

"Bebe is nothing like that. He's an old-fashioned player."

"He learned everything that he knows on the street. He possesses a natural creativity and that could really make a difference."

This post, written by Josh Burt, is republished with permission from The Spoiler. Go there often if you like soccer stuff.

UPDATE: Per Manchester United's official website: Bebe did not play on the Portuguese Homeless World Cup team but "he did play for the CAIS charity, an organisation responsible for managing the Portugal homeless team, but he was not involved in the tournament. By the way, the next Homeless World Cup takes place on Copacabana Beach in Brazil from 19 to 26 September. For more info, visit www.homelessworldcup.org"

Damnit, Burt.