Manchester United may have missed out on signing Cody Gakpo, but the Red Devils have already moved to Plan B - apparently.
Goncalo Ramos? Joao Felix? Rafael Leao? No, no and no. Instead, it's another Portuguese forward who the Premier League 's official website claimed on Tuesday to be a new member of United's squad, one by the name of Betinho.
Certainly not a rumoured target for Erik ten Hag ahead of the January transfer window, fans were sent into a social media frenzy when they stumbled upon his name listed amongst the Red Devils' stellar cast of forwards. Despite not having an image on the website, premierleague.com reckon that Betinho has been handed the famous No.11 shirt at United, leaving the Old Trafford faithful to all ask the same question - 'who the heck is he?'
As explained by the Premier League's website, Betinho is a 29-year-old striker born on July 21, 1993. His height of 172cm is the only other piece of information, but a quick Google search shows there's plenty more to learn - especially since his Wikipedia page has already been edit to describe him as a Manchester United player.
Having risen through the ranks at Sporting Lisbon, Betinho represented Portugal at youth level and amassed 57 caps between the under-15 side to the under-21s. Failing to make the grade at the Estadio Jose Alvalade, the 5ft 11in marksman was loaned out to native outfit Vitoria Setubal in 2014 and then to Brentford later that year, where he made a solitary appearance in West London.
Have your say! Which striker should Man Utd sign in January? Join the debate in the comments section.
Then-Bees manager Mark Warburton had been impressed by Betinho's displays during in the NextGen Series, a European club cup competition for under-19s which the Englishman helped organised. Warburton labelled the Sporting starlet "quick, strong and technically gifted" - before sending him down to the development squad.
Belenenses acquired his services at the beginning of the 2015-16 season for €250,000, and he spent four years contracted to the club. However, Betinho only managed a mere eight appearances and within six months was loaned back to Sporting's B team. They were the only side he could represent that same season given how he'd already featured for the Portuguese giants' reserves earlier on in the campaign.
In 2017, Betinho was loaned to fellow second-tier outfit Uniao da Madeira and scored a promising five goals in 18 games. It wasn't enough to convince Belenenses to keep hold of him, though, as he moved to rebel their offshoot club, B-SAD, for the 2018-19 campaign. It didn't get much better there, as he left on a temporary basis once more and turned out for hometown side Lusitania on eight occasions, scoring an impressive four goals.
Lower-league outfit Espinho came along to sign him in the summer of 2019 and he's since scored 18 goals in 51 games. Betinho is officially tied down on a deal which doesn't expire until June 2023 - unless we're all in one for one big shock.
