Dan Ashworth is perfect fit for Arsenal ... and not because he is Richard Garlick's mate

It says plenty about Dan Ashworth’s standing in the game that he has not been out of work even a week and already the links to new jobs have started.

Ashworth’s departure from Manchester United was confirmed last Sunday in a 41-word statement after he spent just five months as the club’s sporting director.

No reason was given for Ashworth’s sudden exit, although United said the decision was “mutual”.

In the days since, reports have emerged that he failed to gel with the club’s new hierarchy and lacked decisiveness over finding a replacement when Erik ten Hag was sacked in October.

It was only in February that Sir Jim Ratcliffe hailed Ashworth as “clearly one of the top sporting directors in the world” and this swift exit will have raised some red flags.

But it should not detract from Ashworth’s impressive body of work, which includes successful stints at Brighton, Newcastle, the FA and West Brom.

That is clearly a viewed shared by others and Ashworth has already been touted for roles at Arsenal and Everton.

The links to Arsenal come as no surprise given Ashworth worked with the club’s managing director, Richard Garlick, over a decade ago when the pair were at West Brom.

Garlick and executive vice-chair Tim Lewis, along with input from manager Mikel Arteta, are now leading Arsenal’s search for a new sporting director.

Ashworth’s relationship with Garlick would surely help him if he were to go for the job, but his former colleague is just one piece of a much bigger jigsaw. It is not just a case of Arsenal’s new sporting director having to work well with Garlick, he must do so with Arteta and Lewis.

Arsenal would also like to keep Jason Ayto, who has replaced Edu in the interim, as their assistant sporting director and as such any new hire would need to gel with him, too.

That is why some in the game believe Arsenal will look internally, as they have done in the past, with Ayto himself and academy manager Per Mertesacker possible solutions.

Ashworth’s career path, however, suggests he could adapt and slot into what has become a very slick executive team at Arsenal.

“At none of the places I’ve been has it been ‘Dan Ashworth’s philosophy’,” he told the Training Ground Guru podcast in 2020. “My principles are not autocratic. I don’t believe in telling people, ‘This is how we’re going to be doing it.’ I believe in collaboration.”

A lot also depends on what Arsenal want from their sporting director. Ashworth oversaw United’s summer transfer business at United, but others believe his best work comes in managing multiple departments and operations.

If Arsenal have faith in their current setup, then adding someone who would not overhaul it but enhance it makes sense.

“I sit in the middle of a wheel and my job is to bring together seven departments, connecting those spokes,” Ashworth said during his time working at Brighton.

It was at Brighton that Ashworth used a ‘traffic light system’ for transfers, where there would need to be agreement from all parties, including the manager, before signing a player.

“There is no point having a disagreement with the first-team manager, because if I want to sign a player and he doesn’t, he’s not going to play him,” said Ashworth.

It is Ashworth’s time at the FA, though, that may catch Arsenal’s eye the most. During his six years there from 2012 to 2018, he is credited with the development of a new ‘England DNA’, which centred around each age group having a shared playing style and philosophy.

England won the Under-17 and Under-20 World Cups during that period and have since seen improved performances by the senior men and women’s teams at major tournaments.

“In terms of the work of a technical director, I don’t think he could have had a bigger impact with the plans he put in place at the FA and the way that the national teams have progressed in the time Dan has been in charge,” said Gareth Southgate, when Ashworth left.

Ashworth’s track record for developing young players would be attractive to Arsenal, who have embarked on a recruitment drive at youth level.

The 53-year-old has always liked working with young players. He initially worked as a PE teacher before joining West Brom in 2004 to run the club’s youth setup.

When Ashworth agreed to become West Brom’s sporting and technical director in 2007, he had it written into his contract that he could go back to working with the youth team again if after a six-month trial period the move did not work out.

Ashworth never went back and his career took off after that. At West Brom he was part of two promotions. At Brighton, he helped establish them in the Premier League as, arguably, the country’s best-run club. At Newcastle, his stint at Newcastle coincided with them qualifying for the Champions League.

Ashworth’s time at Manchester United is the first real blot on his copybook and what he does next will be intriguing. If he decides to go for the Arsenal job, he will clearly face plenty of competition as the likes of Luis Campos, Roberto Olabe, Simon Rolfes and Tomas Rosicky have all been linked with the role, too.

Ashworth, however, should fancy his chances.