Italian footballer Antonio Candreva has offered to pay for an immigrant girl's lunches because her family cannot afford to pay for the school meal fees.

The Inter Milan midfielder intervened after he learned the eight-year-old child was in tears when she was forced to eat tuna on crackers instead of the same meal as the other children at a primary school in Minerbe, near Verona.

According to Italian media, the father-of-two contacted the town's mayor, Andrea Girardi, to find out what had happened and told him he wanted to pay the girl's canteen fees.

The mayor told Italian newspaper La Repubblica on Tuesday: "He phoned me last night. He told me that he wants to pay for all the year's meals for the child in question.

"And not only that. He offered to take care of the other outstanding fees that we have."


He said the footballer wanted to know how many other children were in a similar predicament.

Mr Andrea said there were around 30 families - six of them Italian - who could not afford the meals at the school. A meal voucher costs €5.40.

He said "it would be more cruel to leave them without food" than to give them the tuna and crackers substitute.

In 2015, Candreva, who also plays for the national side, took part in a campaign to raise money to help children from Senegal.

He said at the time: "It is always important to help those most in need, especially if they are children."