The former Manchester City player Mario Balotelli is believed to have made a large donation after an arson attack on the Manchester Dogs' Home last week.

The blaze killed 60 animals, and as soon as the news broke, the donations began flooding in to help the shelter repair the damage and help as many animals as possible. While Simon Cowell made a large donation (which he was happy to tell the media about), it seems a large anonymous donation came in that may have been from footballer Mario Balotelli.

According to ITV News, staff at the home believe the Liverpool player was the man behind a five-figure donation in the wake of the attack, and this wouldn't be his first time helping them out either. They told the Manchester Evening News that Balotelli also donated his time when he was living and playing in Manchester to help the shelter, and he absolutely loves dogs. 

However, there's a caveat with all this: because Balotelli is a bit of a character, stories tend to get circulated about him that aren't actually true, some of which we were really disappointed to find out were untrue. This might be another one, but we're going to choose to believe it because we genuinely like Mario, he seems like a pretty good guy. 

Via ITV News and Manchester Evening News