City Aren't Helping, But Ashton Have Pulled Off A Great PR Stunt

With the Premier League and other major domestic European leagues now paused so we can have the ill-timed and often questioned winter World Cup out in Qatar, we all know the newsfeeds are going to get a little bit silly and speculated transfer rumour mill nonsense is going to absolutely dominate for the next month and a bit - because, of course, there will be very little to talk about other than the World Cup itself.

The first game has not kicked off yet and most nations have only just begun travelling, but we might well potentially already have the story of the World Cup break and it concerns Erling Haaland and we know he can sell Manchester City Tickets but there is another side hoping he can help sell a few for them.

Haaland's exploits at Red Bull Salzburg and Borussia Dortmund speak for themselves when it comes to the prolific 22 year old's form in front of goal, so after all the speculation linking him with a move to the Premier League, few were that surprised to see Pep Guardiola and City cough up his reported £52 odd million release fee to take him to the Etihad Stadium.

Plenty expected the Norwegian international to take a couple of weeks to settle back into life in the English game given his experiences across Europe, but that could not have been further from the truth. 12 Premier League games and one substitute appearance later, he has 18 goals and three assists, and five more goals in their Champions League campaign from four appearances in that competition.

With Norway missing out at this time of asking, Haaland will have his feet up for a few weeks and then all clubs will have to work out how to keep them fit and ready for league restarts, and training and friendlies can only take you so far on that front, so kudos to Northern Premier League Premier Division side Ashton United who have offered to give City and Haaland a helping hand over the next month and a bit.

According to the BBC, the non league club have genuinely submitted a 28 day long loan offer for the striker, but it does not take a genius to figure out it is very tongue in cheek, but if it was not the likes of P1 Travel might see a boost with more heading to the club. Boss Michael Clegg said of the stunt.

"We're in the hunt for a striker so we thought why not. It's been hard for any of the teams in our league to get any momentum so I'm sure slotting the big man in would only help us climb the table. I'm sure he'd hit the ground running and I'd be hoping for a minimum of six goals a half from him. My mate is the kitman at City so I've been asking him who else we could maybe take from them. I think we'd have four or maybe five games while he'd be here and he could even come on our Christmas do in Newcastle."

Ashton are only six miles from City's home ground, so they will no doubt be hoping the geographical element plays in their favour here - was well as Ashton being able to boast that Geoff Hurst, Jimmy Armfield and Italian Simone Perrotta were born there.

Sadly, Ashton are yet to hear back from City but I cannot be the only fan who is hoping this somehow actually comes off, the non league window does remain open after all.