Manchester United misfits Bebe and Anderson take part in pre-season training

It was a day of peculiar reunions as Manchester United’s players returned to the club’s Carrington training ground for their first ball-playing sessions of pre-season on Monday morning.
In the absence of newly appointed manager Louis van Gaal, assistant coach Ryan Giggs assumed responsibilities on the training field, but it was the make-up of the playing staff, rather than coaching staff, that was causing near jaw-ache among the chattering classes at the club’s AON Training Complex.
All those players who did not appear at the World Cup in Brazil returned late last week for the usual rigorous medical testing to assess how their fitness had been maintained in the close season.

First-team returnees included new signing Ander Herrera, Jonny Evans, Michael Carrick, Darren Fletcher, Tom Cleverley and Rafael Da Silva.
However, there was also much consternation as several loanees returned to the club - including cast-offs such as the Portuguese winger Bebe and the Brazilian midfielder Anderson - with their tails firmly between their legs.
Bebe was signed in a bizarre £7million deal in the summer of 2011 - despite Sir Alex Ferguson later admitting he had not seen the winger play - and the 23-year-old is still yet to start a Barclays Premier League match four years later.
He was the one player immediately written off by David Moyes last summer and it is understood that Louis van Gaal will adopt the same approach towards a player with one year left on a five-year contract. United will loan Bebe out for a third consecutive season or sell him on a permanent deal if they can find a buyer.
Anderson, for his part, became a source of frustration for Moyes over his perceived lack of fitness, evidenced by the damning statistic that he has completed ninety minutes of Premier League football on only 18% of the 104 appearances he has made in a seven-year spell of fluctuating form at Old Trafford.
He endured a stuttering loan spell at Fiorentina in the second half of last season and United may encounter trouble as they attempt to recoup in excess of £20m for the player signed by Sir Alex Ferguson on the recommendation of his brother, Martin, who said: ‘Alex, he’s better than (Wayne) Rooney.’