Ashton United have made an audacious loan offer for Manchester City striker Erling Haaland. Given the talent of City's squad it is not surprising that 16 of Pep Guardiola's players are heading to Qatar this week to take part in the 2022 World Cup. What is a little surprising, however, is that the best striker in the world is not among them.
Haaland will not be playing in the tournament as Norway failed to qualify. That means the 22-year-old has six weeks to prepare for the resumption of the club season, and local non-league side Ashton United want to help.
Ashton - who play in the Northern Premier League, the seventh tier of English football - have made a 28-day loan offer for the striker. On Monday the Robins confirmed their offer with an official statement on their website, explaining that they have "reached out to our neighbours at the Etihad in order to keep Haaland’s match fitness with him not being involved in Qatar."
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There is an element of tongue-in-cheek about the offer, with the non-league side's manager Michael Clegg saying that the move "just makes sense".
"City aren’t playing, and we want to help by keeping Erling fit, it makes more sense than him playing golf for six weeks. We think he will be a great fit for us, and would slot in with our squad dynamic really well."
Haaland has scored 23 goals in 18 appearances for City since arriving from Borussia Dortmund in the summer. Since publishing the statement on Monday afternoon, Ashton's website has crashed.
Ashton say they are yet to receive a response from City, although it seems extremely unlikely they will get the answer they are hoping for. Last week Pep Guardiola confirmed that Haaland would be taking a two-week holiday at the start of the World Cup break, before returning to Manchester.
Guardiola has suggested that City's non-World Cup players could head to Abu Dhabi for some warm weather training before returning for the Carabao Cup meeting with Liverpool on 20th December.
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