A new father who named his firstborn son after Norwich City midfielder Emi Buendia has spoken of his delight after the Argentinian got in touch to personally congratulate him.
At 4.15am on Wednesday, March 10, Darryl Broughton's partner Rhianna gave birth to the pair's first son, who they have named Elijah Emiliano, with the middle name a tribute to the City star.
And when the besotted new father took to Twitter to share his news, he was delighted when the attacker responded with a personal message of congratulations.
The 25-year-old delivery driver from Hellesdon said: "I thought if I was lucky I might get a like from him but when he quoted my Tweet and congratulated me it really made a special day even better.
"I'm actually named after a Norwich player myself - Daryl Sutch - so I wanted my son to have a City player's name too.
"It didn't actually take a great deal of convincing with my partner either. She isn't the biggest football fan herself, but liked the sound, so he nearly had Emiliano as a first name."
With the attacking midfielder likely to be high in demand over the next few seasons, Mr Broughton said he is not holding out much hope of his son being able to watch him in Canaries colours, but he said he was itching to tell him about the origins of his middle name in years to come.
He said: "I'm not sure Emi will be here long enough for Elijah to watch him, but I'll definitely be telling him all about him.
"He's probably the best player I've seen wear the shirt in my lifetime, I can't think of many others who come close. James Maddison is one, but I think Emi is far more the finished article now that Madders was when we had him."
And the former Hellesdon High School pupil, a season ticket holder in the lower Barclay, added that baby and mum were both well, though were yet to be brought home.
Congratulating the new family, the footballer wrote: "Congratulations. Hope everything is well and hope to see you at Carrow Road soon. Big hug."
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