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In the latest twist in Manchester United’s pursuit of their chosen sporting director, Dan Ashworth, reliable journalist David Ornstein claims no significant progress has been made in talks over the Newcastle man’s compensation agreement, despite recent rumours to the contrary.
It was reported a few weeks ago that Ashworth had agreed to become United’s new sporting director and soon thereafter, Newcastle announced that he was placed on gardening leave.
The Magpies in response to United’s interest, reportedly demanded a huge £20m fee to free the Englishman from his contract.
New part owner of the Red Devils, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, has already labelled Newcastle’s stance as “silly” and questioned why they would be happy to leave someone until potentially 2026 on their books, with full pay, doing nothing for the football club.
However, despite the huge fee, many pundits such as Newcastle legend, Alan Shearer, felt that a compromise between the two sides was inevitable.
Furthermore, this week some positive news had seemingly arrived when it was reported that United were set to intensify their efforts once again for the 53 year old.
In some more uplifting news for INEOS, The Peoples Person relayed that the Geordie club were resigned to losing Ashworth and they had identified previously Manchester United linked director, Paul Mitchell, to take over at St James’ Park.
However, The Athletic’s David Ornstein has poured cold water over the notion that the move is heating up.
Writing in his Q&A for the outlet he claimed, “I’m still not aware of any significant developments between Newcastle and Man Utd for Ashworth to start his new role.
“I’ve seen today’s reports about Newcastle wanting to get it done quickly and Paul Mitchell heading up their list of candidates to succeed Ashworth.
“But you can only report your own information and from the checks I’ve made so far, Man Utd are not yet any/much closer to getting their man than they were before.”
This news will likely be met with significant frustration for United fans who will be keen for the club to get their sporting team in and settled as quickly as possible.
This is due to the massive overhaul that the club faces with numerous players being rumoured to leave and manager Erik Ten Hag’s future at the club continuing to be under intense scrutiny.
If the INEOS era is to kick off in the right way, they will certainly need more clarity than they currently have to make the huge decisions this summer that will likely have massive implications for the football club in the long run.
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