'Agreed' - Man Utd set to complete swoop for Newcastle United man after Sir Jim Ratcliffe complaint

Ashworth has been on gardening leave as Newcastle’s sporting director since February following an approach from Manchester United. Ashworth’s notice period at St James’ Park ran until the end of 2025, leaving him unable to join another club unless a compensation fee could be agreed.

According to The Athletic, an agreement has been reached for Ashworth to make the move to Old Trafford with immediate effect. This comes after Man United minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe publicly hit out at Newcastle for being ‘very difficult and very awkward about Dan’ in an interview with Bloomberg last month.

The 53-year-old was planning on taking Newcastle to arbitration in an attempt to push the move through before it was sanctioned.

Ashworth will leave Newcastle two years after joining from Brighton & Hove Albion, though the last five months have been spent on gardening leave. He is set to be in charge of football performance, operations and recruitment at Manchester United in a similar position to the one he held at St James’ Park and The Amex Stadium previously.

Man United head into the 2024-25 campaign on the back of their lowest-ever Premier League finish. Despite finishing eighth in the table and below Newcastle, The Red Devils still had the last laugh with an FA Cup win over rivals Manchester City to deny Eddie Howe’s side a European place.

Newcastle will now look to appoint a new sporting director having conducted interviews towards the back end of the 2023-24 campaign. Executive search firm Odgers Berndtson were appointed by Newcastle to produce a shortlist of viable candidates.

Crystal Palace’s Dougie Freedman was understood to be the club’s top choice only for him to sign a new deal at Selhurst Park. Tiago Pinto was also a candidate but has since joined AFC Bournemouth.

Johannes Spors is another name linked with the role along with current head of recruitment Steve Nickson.

Geordie Journos will premiere on television via Shots! on Freeview channel 276, Mondays at 10:30pm.