Northern Premier League outfit Ashton United have made an audacious loan offer to Manchester City for their Norwegian star striker, Erling Haaland. With the 2022 World Cup upon us – and the Premier League campaign entering a brief hiatus – Ashton have offered City the chance to give Haaland regular minutes and keep him fit.
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Although Haaland won’t stand a chance of winning the 2022 World Cup Golden Boot, he could have the option of boosting Ashton United’s Northern League Premier playoff hopes. Ashton United submitted an official loan offer to City and Pep Guardiola, requesting the Norwegian’s services for a 28-day period.
The story behind Ashton United’s bold bid
The seventh-tier outfit announced the move on their official website, which almost immediately crashed it due to the overwhelming levels of traffic. The Robins’ boss, Michael Clegg, a former Manchester United youth product, said the deal “just makes sense”. Clegg said the loan would be better than Haaland “playing golf for six weeks”. The hierarchy at the Hurst Cross Stadium closed their statement by saying they’ve not yet received a response from the 2021/22 Premier League champions.
Ashton United’s stadium is located just six miles from the Etihad Stadium, which is why the Robins believe they have a sniff of a chance of convincing City to send their top scorer to the seventh tier for a month. United suffered a 2-0 home defeat to Gainsborough Trinity prior to the announcement of their loan move for Haaland.
Haaland would need to be prepared to play in front of crowds of 600+ instead of 60,000+.
Can we expect Manchester City to take the Robins’ deal seriously?
The football romantics would be delighted to see Haaland don a Robins jersey. It would certainly add plenty on the gate at the Hurst Cross Stadium. Nevertheless, the football realists will surely temper this excitement as pure folly, with Guardiola unlikely to want Haaland to be thrown into the blood and thunder of the seventh tier and risk unnecessary injury.
Until the Robins receive an official response rejecting their approach, can we assume that Pep and his backroom staff are mulling over the offer?
