Get the day's biggest United stories delivered straight to your inbox Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Former Manchester City star Mario Balotelli has been touched by an inspirational Manchester United fan who has cerebral palsy.

A video of 11-year-old Samuel meeting his United heroes has gone viral on social media and it caught the eye of Balotelli.

Taking to his Instagram account the former City man wrote: "You all know I'm not a United fan, but a city fan for life.

"But, this video goes more far than just football and is amazing. we have power and we need to use it for these reasons."

The video shows Samuel, who cannot walk unaided due to his condition, playing in net for his school team at Manchester Creative and Media Academy in Blackley.

The school is a partner of Manchester United Foundation and Samuel was nominated by his Foundation coach to receive a series of surprises.

The latest was a trip to the Aon Training Complex where he was greeted by the full first team squad.

Being a goalkeeper his highlight was meeting David de Gea.

He said: “Going to the training ground was the best day of my life.

"De Gea gave me his actual gloves, which was better than anything I have ever got.

“Having cerebral palsy is very hard, and playing football is a bit difficult but I don’t really take that as a big issue, I just get on with it.”

In the video Samuel said that playing football is difficult because his body gets stiff but the inspirational 11-year-old doesn't let that deter him and instead plays in net on his knees.

A huge United fan, Samuel’s message to others is: “United show good emotions that they can keep going no matter what. So that’s what I say to myself: ‘Never, never, never give up.’ I’m in a wheelchair and I never give up. Just try. Try your hardest.”

Get all the latest Manchester United news first with our new app. Download it here now.