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Championship and League One clubs scouting non league star with 15 goals in 12 games

A number of Championship and League One clubs are said to be scouting non league star Macaulay Langstaff with 15 goals in 12 games so far.

The likes of Peterborough United and Barnsley are both said to be scouting the Notts County talisman, with more teams expected to be going in for him come the January transfer window.

According to reports, the form of the 25-year-old has caught admiring glances from across the EFL with some lower-end Championship clubs also having an eye on his stunning form.

His latest goal came against Wrexham, helping his side replace the Welsh outfit at the top of the National League table.

Notts County’s Macaulay Langstaff and Manchester City’s Erling Haaland were the first two players in England’s top five divisions to hit double figures for league goals.

“A bit of me was thinking, ‘oh Haaland has scored again, so I’d better score today’,” County’s 25-year-old striker said.

At the time Langstaff was on the Magpies team bus heading to Dorking.

On the way to last month’s game, he and his Notts teammates tuned into the Premier League champions Manchester City, seeing them beat Wolves in the early kick-off.

Haaland got his 11th in the league, raising the expectations on Langstaff’s goal form – the only player in England’s professional leagues who had managed to keep up with the Norwegian in the scoring charts.

“I know it’s just a bit of fun, but it was a pleasure to see my name on the goalscoring charts for the top five leagues and see him top and me level with him with 10 before Saturday,” Langstaff told BBC Sport.

“Seeing that is a bit crazy. I take a lot of confidence from that, you know. Just to be mentioned in the same sentence as a name like that is brilliant.”

Langstaff couldn’t add to his own tally on Saturday, in a 3-1 defeat that ended Notts’ unbeaten start to the season, but said he would be determined “to try and keep up” with Haaland.

“As a striker you take small things like that as motivation,” said Langstaff, whose six goals in five games in August earned him the National League player of the month award.

“I love scoring goals and want to beat my record from last season.”

He scored 32 goals to help Gateshead win promotion from the National League North last season, showing just how far he’s come since he was playing for £40 appearance fees seven years ago in the tenth tier.

Notts head coach Luke Williams was appointed as Notts County signed Langstaff and Cedwyn Scott, his 26-goal strike partner at Gateshead.

Williams said it was a “simple” decision to throw his support behind the double signing, having watched the highlights reel, looked at stats and met the pair.

Scott has so far scored four goals and says he will keep “chipping away” to catch up to and “drive on” Langstaff.

“We both fancy ourselves to score goals,” Scott said.

Asked about Langstaff’s start to the campaign, Scott replied: “He’s called himself the non-league Haaland. But we’re not going to let that go to his head.”

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While Langstaff laughed, saying “there is no way I said that”, he admits that he has done all he can to adopt elements of Haaland’s game.

“I watch videos of him and even though we are a little different in terms of the way we play, a lot of what we do is the same,” Langstaff said.

“I go home and try to recreate what he does on the pitch. I take a lot of things he does, little tips, his movement in the box is unbelievable. He scores a lot of tap-ins and I watch to try take as much of his game into my game as I can.”

Langstaff says it helps that “the gaffer loves” Haaland.

“He shows us videos of him all the time, how good he is and how effective he is,” he added.

“We know that the levels are far apart, but the attitude and the ideas of the two guys are very similar,” Williams said comparing the two.

Langstaff was on the books at Middlesbrough as a kid, and admitted he never thought he reached this level of football having gone into “early retirement” while playing for Billingham Synthonia in the 10th tier of the game as a teen.

“I loved it,” he said. “I was getting paid to play football every week, no matter how much.

“After my first season with Billingham Synthonia I didn’t go back for pre-season because I didn’t really want to play anymore. I thought I’d do other things, I was at college.

“But when I saw my mates going to play I missed it a little so I thought I’d go back. I can’t put my finger on the exact reason, but I scored a lot of goals after that and from early retirement I ended up signing my first professional deal with Gateshead [in February 2017].”

He went out on loan with Blyth Spartans, then sealed a move to York City followed before a second spell with Gateshead resulted in a move to Meadow Lane and a Notts team trying to return to the EFL after a four-year absence.

“I’m more driven now than ever,” Langstaff added.

“I’m hungrier and hungrier every day because of the journey I’ve been on.”

He’s the National League’s current top goalscorer and has also produced two hat-tricks. Here’s his first hat-trick scored for the Magpies against Cambridge in pre-season, and some other goals of his from the last few months…

@davo261088: He’s an outstanding player at that level. He’ll end up in the Championship (at least) in a couple of years. Hope Notts keep hold of him for this season.

@Armchaireverton: I keep telling you . This guy is unbelievable. He’s outscoring Haaland .@Everton you need to be watching Macaulay Langstaff 

@Dylan_G_Roome: Macaulay Langstaff I can’t stop crying what are you doing to me

@jackdakin8: He’s perfect ain’t he

@iCheezy1989: The big man for the big occasion, on every occasion. You piesssssss

@Coppice83: Fooking love that guy x 😘 #Notts @maccalangstaff

@Sam19358810: LANGSTAFF YOU BEAUTYYYYYYY

@Ryannn_NCFC: HEYYYYYYY MACCCAAAA LANGSTAFFFFF

@Gavin_Rudd: @GatesheadFC should have asked for 4x the price. 🙈

@bacon_tabs: You cannot stop this man👊

@pantherBigT: Who needs Deadpool when you have Super Langstaff!!

@tomhwilliams23: I fucking love this man

@atorv88: Get him on the plane to Qatar

@Mustardinho: The boy is a machine

@DonnaThorneloe: Over to you @ErlingHaaland

@_Bird93: If he’s at Notts at the end of January I’ll be amazed! Championship clubs have got to be sniffing surely!

@Smiffy300583: He’s some player is @maccalangstaff 🔥🔥🔥

@owenncfc01: He’s on the plane surely @GarethSouthgate

@colinjones011: Running past defenders 😍😍😍

@01429doug: Non league Haaland

@RyanLGilb0urne: Langstaff for England

@CharCraner: Shag me Macca

@SkyBlueFansTV1: Could a league club take a punt on him in January ?

@HenshawAnalysis: Deal until 2024, not sure many clubs could afford him

@SkyBlueFansTV1: Wonder if a championship club might – Huddersfield have targeted players from National League with decent success

@HenshawAnalysis: It would probably take a top L1 or a Champ club to have the budget to get him I would have thought

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