A five-year-old Afghan boy, photographed wearing a plastic wrap with the name Messi scrawled on it, has had his dream come true - receiving a signed jersey and a soccer ball from the Barcelona superstar.

The photos were posted on the internet in January and quickly went viral.

The gifts were delivered on Thursday to Murtaza Ahmadi in the central province of Ghazni by UNICEF.

"A woman from UNICEF got in contact with us and told us a couple of days ago that Murtaza might be receiving a package from (Lionel) Messi," the boy's father Mohammad Arif Ahmadi said.

"He is very happy to receive the gifts."