Luca Bish has laughed off suggestions he is using Gemma Owen - and says her football legend dad was scoring goals before he was born.
Brighton-based fishmonger Luca, 23, is said to have been introduced to the ex England star, 42, earlier this month.
Gemma's beau was reported to have been "really nervous" to meet him after being getting to know Gemma's mum Louise when she came into the Love Island villa.
But that hasn't stopped unsubstantiated social media talk that he is only with Gemma for other reasons.
Many thought football fan Luca only perused Gemma after finding out who he dad was - and now he has finally responded.
In an interview with Grazia, the hunk says all that talk couldn't be further from the truth.
The pair are not yet 'official' as he waits for the right time to ask Gemma to be his girlfriend.
Luca said: "Listen, I've been to their house and seen all his trophies - they date back to before I was born!
"Besides have you seen that girl? I couldn't of care less about all that.
"I actually wanted to pull Gemma from the start but they (the show's producers) kept holding me back so I could focus on the connections I had at the time."
Gemma says the meeting with Michael, the former Manchester United, Liverpool and Newcastle goal getter, went really well.
Gemma told Capital FM: “It was so nice. It was quite a chilled environment, I mean it was on holiday with my family so it wasn’t that chill, but we just had a few drinks just at the hotel reception, it wasn’t awkward at all they got on really well.
“My mum and brothers and sisters had already met Luca, but my dad had been watching the show so he already felt like he knew him and, to be fair, I did tell Luca everything about my whole family so he felt like he already knew them as well.”
The beauty says there is no rush for them to become official.
She explained: “We’re going to get official first and then definitely in the future we’d like to move in, once everything has settled down a bit.”
Previously, a source has told The Sun that Luca was anxious about coming face-to-face with her sports star dad.
"Luca has been nervous about meeting Michael which is, of course, totally natural," they said.
"He adores Gemma and knows that he has to impress."
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