Erling Haaland walked into Wild Bill’s Western Store in Dallas looking for a World Cup souvenir. He walked out with a stuffed raccoon hugging a bottle of whisky, valued at 750 dollars, and two squirrels that had also been taxidermied.
He did not leave it in his suitcase. He carried it in his arms as he got off the plane in Oslo, just after Norway were eliminated in the quarter-finals, as if it were the trophy the team could not bring home.
Now the striker is asking his followers for help naming his new housemate, whom he already affectionately calls his “geezah”. The small Texas shop, meanwhile, cannot keep up: the exact piece he chose has already sold out.