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A Limerick boy got the surprise of a lifetime from his Liverpool hero

Published 15:22 25 May 2017 BST

Updated 15:36 25 May 2017 BST

Laura Holland

A Limerick boy got the surprise of a lifetime from his Liverpool hero

A Limerick boy was treated to pair of football boots from one of the Liverpool players.

11-year-old Paddy Mackessy was over in Liverpool with his mother for their last game of the season. When they had some free time they decided to visit some shops, including a sports shop. Paddy was looking at a pair of Adidas PureControl football boots, which cost £300, when Liverpool midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum walked up behind him and asked if he liked them and what size he wears. Innocently Paddy said yes and told him the size but didn't think too much about it. His mum, Louise, urged him to carry on and leave the shop. They did and they were half way down the street when the shop assistant ran down to them and told them to wait while Georginio paid for the shoes.

Speaking on The Ray D'Arcy Show on RTÉ Radio 1, Louise said:

"So we went into the Adidas store and Paddy just went and he bought a pair of skinny pants, and of course typical Irish mammy, I went 'come on so' because he would stay looking at soccer stuff all day if you let him.

So he came out of the shop and he said 'There was a Liverpool player there and I got a selfie with him' and I was like 'oh brilliant' and he said they started chatting about the soccer boots."

She continued:

"He said to Paddy 'do you like those boots?' And Paddy said 'I do'. And he said 'what size are you?' and he said 'size five' and he was like 'why don't you buy them?' And Paddy was like 'they're so expensive'.

At that stage then I had called him, so we left the store and Paddy was telling me this and we walked around the street and we literally just looked behind and the lady from the store had basically just ran after us and she said 'listen, can you come back to the store? He wants to buy Paddy the boots'."

Louise then said that they went back to the shop and couldn't believe it that he had bought the shoes. Georginio even obliged them with another photo. Listen to the interview here:

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