EX-CORONATION Street star Helen Flanagan has formed a close bond with a former amateur footballer.

It comes as she appears on E4’s Celebs Go Dating – and two years after a “messy” split from her ex-fiancé and football star Scott Sinclair.

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The former soap actress was spotted looking madly in love with her new boyfriend Robbie Talbot, 44, on her 34th birthday.

She hasn’t had a serious relationship since her breakup with Scott in 2022.

They were together for 13 years and have three children.

Now she has told her friends that she is “in love” with Robbie.

Helen, who played Rosie Webster in the ITV soap, hosted a glamorous birthday party at the five-star Gotham Hotel in Manchester on August 10, where she made no secret of her budding relationship.

The couple arrived together and stayed overnight at the location.

It is not known whether they shared a room.

Onlookers said Helen, dressed in a pink ruffled dress, “radiated” as she spent the evening with her new husband.

They were photographed embracing with Robbie’s arm around her.

They are believed to have been in a relationship since May.

A month after they hit it off, they visited the Municipal Hotel and Spa in Liverpool, where Robbie is from.

Helen has attempted to keep the relationship a secret ahead of her appearance on Celebs Go Dating, which began on August 19.

A source said: “Helen is completely in love. They look so good together. She deserves to be happy after everything she’s been through recently.

“She has tried to keep the affairs out of the public eye, but that has become difficult as their feelings for each other have grown stronger.

“Helen made no secret of her new relationship at her party, but it’s still early days.”

Robbie played as a striker for Morecambe and Burton Albion, among others.

He later became a coach after nearly dying in a serious car accident in 2004.

The former player has two daughters from a previous relationship.

Helen previously said: “I’m very attracted to masculine men who are older and understand that I’m a mother. I usually go for 40 and over. Above all, he has to be a decent, good person.”

Helen revealed earlier this month that she could barely speak to the father of her children after spotting him on a dating site two years ago, shortly after they split.

She also shared how she suffered a psychosis after a “bad reaction” to ADHD medication, while “struggling emotionally” with the split from Scott.

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