Italian club AS Roma's missing child campaign helps authorities find 13-year-old Kenyan

A missing child was found after an Italian football club’s social media campaign to help raise awareness.

Since July, Serie A giants AS Roma have been announcing signings on Twitter alongside the picture of missing children.

In August, the club signed Armenian midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan on loan from English club Arsenal, and posted a picture of their new signing with a picture of a 13-year-old Kenyan.

It later transpired that the child was found - on the same day that Mkhitaryan scored his first goal for the club against Sassuolo.

And the scheme appears to have been successful on a number of occasions - with another August signing producing similar results.

A missing girl poster was published alongside the signing of Turkish defender Mert Cetin and it was revealed later that she was found safe.

On Tuesday, the club confirmed a fourth child - published when they signed England defender Chris Smalling on loan - was found safe.

Roma announced that an edited version of the unveiling would be posted to publicise the other missing children yet to be found.

Earlier in the summer the club, working alongside missing child charities National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and Telefono Azzurro, said they wanted to use ‘viral’ posts to help generate awareness.

“We want to use the viral nature of social media transfer announcements to help raise awareness for missing children,” Roma's head of strategy previously told the website.

“We have a massive social media following and our announcements generate incredible reach and awareness, all over the world.”

Featured from our writers

• Italian football pundit sacked for racist on-air remarks about Romelu Lukaku

• Manchester United tie 'best in the world' David de Gea to new deal

• Antonio Brown: The most talked about man in the NFL