Victor Valdes has already made a huge impact at Manchester United - thanks to the inspirational tale of a man who ran marathons with his disabled son.

The three-times Champions League winner, who is yet to make his first-team bow, shared the heartwarming story of American Dick Hoyt and cerebal palsy-suffering Rick at a team meeting at the club's Aon training complex.

After Valdes made his first start in United's Under 21 victory over Liverpool, coach Warren Joyce lifted the lid on an emotional morning at Carrington recently, which left few in any doubt about what kind of man they were dealing with.

Victor Valdes wore a Manchester United No 1 shirt for the first time on Monday night in an Under 21 match

The former Barcelona star helped United's youngsters beat their rivals from Liverpool at Leigh Sports Village

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'We have motivational speeches on Friday mornings where the lads have to find out their own information and give a speech,' Joyce told Sportsmail.

'We were in the room and I was going to do something. He said "(Pep) Guardiola used to do this" and "I've got one or two".'

Valdes, one of three players over 21 chosen in Monday night's 2-1 win, then took over and shared the remarkable tale with his younger colleagues, using video clips.

When Rick was born in 1962 doctors told his dad he would be a 'vegetable' and advised him to put his son into an institution.

Valdes, Joel Castro Pereira, Anderson, Andreas Pereira, Jesse Lingard and Saidy Janko celebrate the win

United defender Paddy McNair (right) celebrates scoring the 47th-minute winner against Liverpool

Dick had no such ideas and raised him along with his other two sons at the family's home in Massachusetts with the aid of a computer which allowed Rick to communicate.

One day, in the spring of 1977, Rick came home from school and told his dad he wanted to run a five-mile charity race for a Lacrosse player who had been paralysed in an accident.

Dick pushed his son in his wheelchair and they completed the run together.

Later that night Rick, who would go on to graduate from Boston University, told his father: 'Dad, when I'm running, it feels like I'm not handicapped.'

That sparked the creation of Team Hoyt which, after bringing the curtain down at last year's Boston Marathon, had completed in 1,108 events including 255 triathlons and 72 marathons.

Dick Hoyt (left) has pushed his disabled son Rick (right) in a special wheelchair in over 1,000 events

The father and son team have competed together since the 1970s

Rick told his father: 'Dad, when I'm running, it feels like I'm not handicapped.'

Rick, pictured being pulled in a dinghy by his father during a triathlon, has cerebral palsy

'The boy asks his dad to run and the dad says yes,' Joyce said. 'The next clip he says "can we do a triathlon?" and they do the Ironman.

'So dad pushes him for the run, he's got him in a dinghy as he swims and the last bit he's got him on the front of a bike.

'The meaning at the end is: don't anybody say I can't - I can.

'I played the video and he talked through it - it was brilliant.'

Joyce branded 33-year-old Valdes, who joined on a free transfer from Barcelona after suffering a serious knee injury last year, a 'model pro'.

Dick Hoyt runs with his son for their 25th Boston Marathon in 2006, as Japanese runner Reiko Tosa looks on

And Joyce added that at half-time, with a side including the likes of Nick Powell, Anderson, Tyler Blackett and Paddy McNair level at 1-1, he told some of his charges to follow the World Cup winner's example.

'I thought he was more focused than a couple of the ones who have played for first team and have been out on loan coming back to this level,' he explained.