A FOOTIE fan snapped a photo of his chance meeting with Manchester United star Jadon Sancho, only to later notice a surprise cameo from a famous strongman in the background.
Kieran Wilson was travelling on a family holiday to New York from Manchester Airport when he spotted winger Sancho in the queue next to him.
Starstruck, the 19-year-old approached Sancho, 23, for a picture, which the England international gladly agreed to.
However, it was only after later viewing the snap that Kieran from Manchester, Lancashire, realised that the pair had been photobombed by none other than former World’s Strongest Man, Eddie Hall.
In the picture, Kieran is standing towards the front of the passport control queue alongside the former Borussia Dortmund forward.
Sancho, clad in a simple grey hoodie and a black cap, smiles with his arm around Kieran as fellow passengers glance at the duo.
However, in the background of the photo, the hulking figure of 35-year-old Hall can be seen, towering over his fellow passengers.
The six-time UK’s Strongest Man champion sports a mohawk and a black t-shirt that reads “Beast” as he wryly smiles at the camera, with both Kieran and Sancho seemingly blissfully unaware of his presence.
Kieran shared the photo with a Premier League player-dedicated social media account on Wednesday who duly shared it online.
The caption reads: “Jadon Sancho was on my flight to New York. I asked him for a photo in the passport control queue, it was only later I realised that Eddie Hall was photobombing us.”
The post has since received over 6,000 likes and dozens of comments by fans left stunned by Hall’s cameo appearance.
One user joked: “The two kings of the bench.”
Another said: “Crazy photo.”
A third commented: “Possibly the best submission yet.”
Another quipped: “Both love the bench.”
Speaking today Kieran said: “I had a friend who was in first class, I spoke to him during the flight and he said Jadon Sancho was sat near him, obviously I didn’t believe him at first.
“We got off the flight, still chatting to him and I eventually saw Sancho and made sure we were next to him in the passport control queue.
“I was absolutely starstruck to see him before my very eyes, on his own less than a metre away from me.
“I eventually plucked up the courage to ask Jadon for a photo, he was more than happy to and we got a few snaps before leaving him alone.
“Somehow from my memory, we were the only people on the entire flight to ask him for a photo, despite the plane leaving from Manchester.
“It was good conversation, we spoke a little bit about United’s season, his time at Dortmund as one of my good friends is a Dortmund fan, and about football in general.
“We eventually got through the passport border, grabbing our suitcases not far away from him before he came over and politely said it was nice to meet us and to enjoy our holiday.
“My friend had a better phone than me so I used his to grab the photo so I could get the best quality picture I could, but this wasn’t before I used my phone to grab the first one, which is the one where you can see Eddie.
“The funny part is, Eddie is turned towards our photo, fully in shot and even pulled his mask down to show it was definitely him.
“Overall, that whole hour or so was a memory I’ll remember forever, not only how nice Jadon was and the conversation we had, but to get that photo with Eddie in the background was unbelievable!”
Sancho was controversially dropped from Manchester United’s matchday squad amid their 3-1 loss to Arsenal last weekend.
Red Devils manager Erik Ten Hag then explained to press his reasoning for Sancho’s lack of involvement, saying: “Jadon, on his performance in training, was not selected.
“You have to reach a level at Manchester United every day and we can make choices in the front line. So, for this game he was not selected.”
The attacker then tweeted his side of the story posting: “”Please don’t believe everything you read! I will not allow people saying things that is completely untrue.
“I have conducted myself in training very well this week. I believe there are other reasons for this matter that I won’t go into.
“I have been a scapegoat for a long time which isn’t fair! All I want to do is play football with a smile on my face and contribute to my team.
“I respect all decisions that are made by the coaching staff, I play with fantastic players… I will continue to fight for this badge no matter what!”
The England international has been capped 23 times but didn’t make the cut for Gareth Southgate’s squad in their upcoming fixtures against Ukraine and Scotland.
