Dan Ashworth ‘shortlisted’ for shock Arsenal role after Newcastle United & Manchester United spells

Arsenal’s search for a new sporting director is ongoing after Edu Gaspar’s decision to leave the club. The Spaniard left the Gunners in November to take up a role working in Evangelos Marinakis’ group of football clubs.

Marinakis currently owns Nottingham Forest, Greek giants Olympiacos and Portuguese side Rio Ave. Edu’s role under Marinakis will see him given wide-reaching responsibilities in that group of clubs.

The Gunners, meanwhile, have been searching for Edu’s replacement ever since and, according to the Athletic, are expected to wrap up their search next month. Ashworth is one of the names they are reportedly taking a look at to fill that vacancy.

Ashworth’s Arsenal links

Ashworth is reportedly among the list of names being considered by Arsenal to replace Edu. The FA’s former technical director has been out of work since leaving Manchester United in December - five months after joining the Red Devils.

According to reports, Ashworth is someone that Arsenal have either held talks with or whose name has been discussed internally at the north London club. Andrea Berta, Roberto Olabe and Thiago Scuro have also been reportedly considered for the role alongside Ashworth and Arsenal’s interim sporting director Jason Ayto. Ayto was promoted to the role following Edu’s resignation back in November.

Ashworth’s brief Man Utd spell

Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS were big admirers of Ashworth and spent months in negotiations with Newcastle United to release him from gardening leave. Speaking in June, Ratcliffe hit out at Newcastle United for their refusal to allow Ashworth to begin work at Old Trafford without being paid compensation.

“One of the biggest issues in football, which I have to say I wasn't fully prepared for, was the gardening leave issue, which is not something that I bump into in my business world," Ratcliffe told Bloomberg. “I see absolutely no point in the gardening leave thing that they have in football.

“It just makes it difficult to change things with pace because Omar [Berrada] is on six months, Dan Ashworth is on one-and-a-half years. We had a very sensible conversation with Southampton about Jason Wilcox. We managed to find a solution to that.

“Newcastle are just being very difficult and very awkward about Dan. Until you get the people in, it's quite difficult to drive the change and it's just frustrating.”

Ashworth’s Warwickshire CCC role

After leaving Old Trafford in December, just five months after Manchester United paid Newcastle United £4.1m for his services, Ashworth has now taken up a role at Warwickshire County Cricket Club. At Warwickshire, Ashworth is advising on performance strategy on a voluntary basis - a role he has held since 2021.

"He's [Ashworth] sat on our cricket audit committee in a voluntary capacity for some time along with people like Ian Bell and Asif Din, to offer advice on all aspects of cricket at the club," said a Warwickshire club spokesman, as quoted by the BBC.

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