Dream Spanish Homes Player of the Month Ronan Hale admits he is in the dark about links to clubs across the water.
The 25-year-old Cliftonville marksman won the December award after a month that yielded five goals in five games for the North Belfast man.
Last season, Hale was a joint winner of the Golden Boot award having racked up 29 goals for the season.
Injury has limited his outings this season but he still has an impressive haul of eight goals in twelve games to his name.
His goalscoring exploits saw him linked this week with a move across the water.
Derby County, Portsmouth, Bolton and Wrexham were reported to be interested but Hale insists it was news to him.
“I don’t know a lot only what has appeared on social media”, smiled the Newington man.
“To be honest, I haven’t heard anything personally.
“I read like everyone else there was interest from across the water and I was happy to see it, there is no such thing as bad publicity.
“I haven’t a clue where it has come from, I’m totally in the dark. It’s one of those situations, I just get on with what I’m doing.
“I suppose it shows that I’ve been doing well, which reflects in the interest from clubs.
“I’m happy enough at Cliftonville, it’s brilliant to be playing for my boyhood club.
“I’ll keep going to see where it takes me.”
Solitude sources insist none of the clubs have made contact about Hale but the player would welcome a return to England, if it was the right deal.
Family life could take a hand in proceedings as Hale and his partner are expecting a baby in May.
The gifted forward and his older brother Rory began their football careers in Birmingham but Hale Jnr missed the patter of tiny feet back home.
“I was at Birmingham in my younger days and Rory was at Aston Villa. The two big teams in the city.
“I loved it, but I had a bit of home sickness.
“I had a young baby over here at the time. It was tough, especially when I came home to see the baby and then having to leave again.
“I feel I’m better equipped now. I’m 25 and if something came along I would definitely give it another crack.
“We now have a second child due on Irish Cup final weekend.
“If anything did happen, it would have to be one that made everything work with my family because they would be coming with me.
“It’s a bit hypothetical at the minute. We’d cross that bridge if we ever came to it.
“Right now it’s all twitter talk.”
If the Reds were to make it to the Irish Cup Final, Hale might be on a sweat with his second baby due.
The mere mention of the Irish Cup makes Cliftonville fans shudder at the fact that the last time their team lifted the trophy was in 1979.
“It’s been brought up many a time, especially by the fans in the Social (club) after games.
“I think we missed a big chance last season”, mused Hale.
“We were knocked out at home against Dungannon Swifts – that was the one.
“We had home advantage against a so-called smaller team but we took our eye completely off the ball and found ourselves two-nil down and chasing the game.
“That’s a mistake we’ll never make again, we’ll show every team the respect they deserve.
“I think we have done that this season, we’ve really gelled and we’ve pushed on.
“An Irish Cup Final would be great, but we can’t afford to look that far down the track.
“We’ve Loughgall at home in the next round, which is a tough ask.
“It’s one of those ones, we are always hoping.”
The firepower at Jim Magilton’s disposal is frightening when you consider the Cliftonville manager has last year’s top goalscorer Hale and the top scorer this season to date, Ben Wilson.
Add Joe ‘The Goal’ Gormley, Sam Ashford and Ryan Curran, who is approaching a return from injury, and you can see why the Reds are flying high in the league this season.
It remains to be seen who will get the starting positions going forward and Hale says, while he doesn’t enjoy warming the bench, the competition keeps him sharp.
“I don’t like sitting on the side lines”, he grins mischievously.
“We have that much quality, you must keep your shirt.
“It’s healthy competition, but there are people sitting on the bench bursting to get in, so it means you must be doing the business on the pitch.
“It’s tough getting off that bench. As a group, we all back each other, we are happy for each other.
“I got a hat-trick at Coleraine last week and the first one off the bench to congratulate me was Joe.
“Joe’s brilliant, even when he’s on the bench, he continuously encourages the boys.
“We’ve a great camaraderie in the group, we are flying at the minute, so we want to keep it going.”