Shea Lacey: Man Utd's dribbling sensation who was imitating Ronaldinho at three years old and has converted his Liverpool family to Red Devils' cause

Ronaldinho popularised the piece of skill known as the 'Elastico' during his thrilling spell at Barcelona and, a few years later, a kid in Liverpool was making a name for himself for fooling defenders with the Brazilian's signature one-footed dribbling move, known in English as the 'flip flap'. The boy in question was three years old and was called Shea Lacey. By the age of four, he was playing with Manchester United.

Fourteen years on and Lacey is still at United and he now has a global legion of followers who regularly take to social media to gush about his dazzling moves for the Under-18s. And more recently he has been strutting his stuff at senior level. Lacey got his first taste of first team football on United's post-season tour of Asia at the back end of last season and last week he began pre-season training with Ruben Amorim's side.

He is now primed for more action as United prepare for their first friendly against Leeds and then head out on their pre-season tour of the United States to take part in the Premier League's Summer Series along with Everton, West Ham and Bournemouth.

It is a chance for Lacey to showcase his talents to an even wider audience and see if can repeat his daring acts of dribbling - which have brought him comparisons with Phil Foden, Eden Hazard and have even led to some calling him 'the Scouse Lionel Messi' - against Premier League opponents.

Lacey hails from a family of proud, match-going Liverpool fans who have played in the Reds' youth systems themselves but he has been converted to the United cause and is on the cusp of carving out his own story at Old Trafford...