West Ham captain Mark Noble has donated signed boots to a war veteran and a lifelong fan of the club Matty Wollard. The fans is limbless after serving in Afghanistan.

Afghan veterans visited the club’s Chadwell Heath training ground where they bumped into the lifelong West Ham star. Blesma – the limbless veterans’ charity who rehabilitates them and provides financial support when necessary – were on a visit but the Premier League star stopped for a chat on his way home. For one of the group members, Noble decided to offer him a pair of signed football boots.

Wollard lost his leg on his first tour to Afghanistan while with the Royal Anglican Regiment. He has been a lifelong fan of the club.

“It was great to meet him and the other players as I’m a big West Ham fan. He had to leave pretty quickly but after he’d gone someone gave me a bag and said ‘he wanted you to have these.’ It was a pair of signed boots,” the former soldier said, describing the event.

Noble started with the youth team at West Ham before he made the senior team in 2004/05. He has been on loan to Hull City and Ipswich but has been a steady figure at the club since 2006. The midfielder is expected to feature on Saturday when West Ham play Hull City.

He returned to the set-up this Monday and he has been training for the game. Slaven Bilic says he could be in the squad as he recovers from the injuries he picked up when they played Chelsea and Bournemouth.