Nash Dash to Sign Dale Winger

Curzon Ashton have made their first signing ahead of the new season, with winger Michael Afuye joining from Rochdale.

The tricky wide man spent two years at Avro, helping them to promotion from the North West Counties Premier League through the play-offs in 2023.

Afuye’s eye-catching displays earned him a move to National League side, Rochdale, where despite appearing in the first five games of last season, he only played a further 45 minutes of football before a loan move to Guiseley in January.

He made 16 appearances for the Yorkshire club, scoring once in the West Riding Cup against Ossett United.

“I’ve had a look at the [pre-season] fixtures, and one that stood out to me was Avro,” the 23-year-old told Curzon’s YouTube channel. “I can’t wait to get back there.”

Before moving to England when he was 18, the Irishman spent his early days with the youth teams at Castleknock Celtic in Dublin, where he started as a central midfielder.

“That’s where I first fell in love with football. My career has been short and sweet, but a lot of work has been put in.”

He also excelled at Gaelic football as a youngster, with ambitions to play for Dublin’s county team. “When I was playing GAA, you’re mostly meant to play it with the ball in your hands,” he told Avro’s website in 2022. “But I used to deliberately drop it and dribble up the field. I used to get in trouble all the time for doing that!”

The Nash are looking to build on last season’s record 7th-place finish, where they fell to a 4-2 defeat on penalties to Chorley in the play-off Quarter-finals.