Newcastle United chief Dan Ashworth is “very keen” to leave the club and move on to pastures new, according to a new update regarding his future.
Newcastle transfer news
The Magpies’ frustrating season continued on Tuesday evening, with a penalty shootout defeat away to Chelsea seeing them knocked out of the EFL Cup at the quarter-final stage. Kieran Trippier’s nightmare run of form continued, as he gifted the Blues a stoppage-time equaliser before missing a spot-kick.
Eddie Howe’s side now primarily have Premier League commitments to focus on following their exit from the Champions League, and the hope is that they can find some consistency that gets them right back into the top-four battle.
Some new signings in the January transfer window could give Newcastle the extra boost that they need ahead of the second half of the season, and it’s fair to say that plenty of players have been backed to move to St James Park.
Kalvin Phillips continues to be linked with a move to Newcastle as he desperately searches for a switch away from Manchester City. A midfielder looks high up on Howe’s agenda, considering he has to make do without Sandro Tonali until the end of the season. Defensive reinforcements are also a possibility, however, and highly-rated centre-back pair Goncalo Inacio and Piero Hincapie have both emerged as targets for the Magpies.
Now, a concerning update has emerged regarding an off-field development that could come to fruition at Newcastle – one that could further rock the Magpies.
Dan Ashworth “very keen” to leave Newcastle
According to an update from Football Insider, Newcastle sporting director Dan Ashworth is “very keen” to leave the club and join Manchester United.
The report said: “Newcastle United transfer chief Dan Ashworth is the new top target for Man United’s director of football role, sources have told Football Insider. It is believed that the 52-year-old is attracted by the job and behind-the-scenes talks have taken place over a potential deal. The interest in Ashworth comes as Newcastle probe into what went wrong over the summer arrival of Sandro Tonali, who was banned from football for the rest of the 2023-24 campaign in October.
“Ashworth only joined Newcastle in May 2022 after leaving Brighton months earlier – but a well-placed source has revealed that he would be “very keen” on taking the role at Old Trafford.”
Losing Ashworth would be a major blow for Newcastle considering the impact he has made at the club, forging a strong relationship with Howe and working with him on transfers.
The 52-year-old has been a big part of a memorable period at St James’, with the Magpies getting back into the Champions League and Gary Neville hailing him as someone who is “competent, highly qualified and knows what he’s doing”.
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Manchester United are clearly a prestigious club and the lure of them is understandable – they badly lack a sporting director currently – but the hope is that Ashworth has a change of heart and remains at Newcastle for the foreseeable future.
