Arsenal star Hector Bellerin came to Epsom to surprise two young fans after tracking them down through social media.

After seeing a picture from a December away game at Crystal Palace in which seven-year-old Claudia Brown was holding a banner with “Bellerin I [heart] you” on it, the footballer tweeted an appeal to find her.

Weeks later, after several failed attempts, he went to visit Claudia and her five-year-old brother Austin, and spent nearly two hours chatting and playing games.

Claudia said: “I felt a little bit scared, but he was a nice friendly guy – very smiley and happy. He was kind, he was generous, he was positive and warm.”

Austin gave Mr Bellerin Arsenal Top Trumps and Claudia had written him a Valentine’s Day card.

In return, he gave Austin a signed shirt with a poppy on it, and he gave Claudia the shirt he was wearing at the Crystal Palace match, signing it “to my favourite valentine”.

Dad Gary said: “He was very relaxed. It was kind of like having someone you know in the house. The kids obviously were originally going to be a little bit shy, but they warmed to him really quickly.”

Austin, who plays football himself, told one of his friends on the day Mr Bellerin was coming about it, but his friend did not believe him.

He said his favourite part was playing Mario Kart – Hector played as Luigi and won – and that Mr Bellerin is one of his favourite players, alongside Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (although Gary said this often changes based on who scored recently).

A couple of weeks before the Crystal Palace match, one of Claudia’s friends told her Father Christmas was not real, so Gary took her to Lapland to reassure her.

In the car on the way back, she told him next she wanted to meet Hector Bellerin.

Gary said: “I’ve made two of her dreams come true. I’m worried I won’t be able to live up to it!”