Barack Obama England World Cup mugs 'selling fast'

Two thousand mugs were produced featuring President Obama (left) instead of the Man United centre-back

Unofficial England World Cup mugs, with the image of US president Barack Obama mistakenly used instead of defender Chris Smalling, are proving popular after being put on sale online.

Wholesale Clearance UK based in Poole, Dorset, bought the mugs as factory seconds after a mix-up by an employee at the manufacturers.

They are now being sold off as novelty items.

A quarter of the consignment of 2,000 mugs were bought by people in the US.

The unofficial mugs feature images of the England squad - and the US president

Andy White of Wholesale Clearance UK, which specialises in buying end-of-line stock and factory seconds, said it had knowingly bought the mugs when they were offloaded by a merchandising company.

He said a new employee had been tasked with sourcing images for a range of "unofficial market-stall type mugs", but the incorrect image was missed when the designs were checked.

Mr White said there were "not that many left", with 500 being sold to US buyers.

He admitted to having kept one for himself.

"Every now and again something strange crops up and, with the interest in social media, it goes crazy.

"They are a real novelty value. Once they are gone, they're gone."