Dan Ashworth had an eye on Joshua Zirkzee during his ill-fated stint at Newcastle United as sporting director.

Chronicle Live understands that Zirkzee was one of the names Ashworth took with him to Manchester United when he swapped St James' Park for Old Trafford earlier this year. But the £36.5million signing from Serie A club Bologna would end up following Ashworth to the North-West despite being scouted earlier by Newcastle.

At Newcastle, it was decided that Ashworth should go on gardening leave when it emerged he had sent an email to himself about Man United's approach for him last year. Back then Eddie Howe had said: "Dan is in a position of power and privy to a lot of intelligence and information."

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And within hours, Ashworth's exit from Newcastle was confirmed just over 18 months since he had arrived from Brighton & Hove Albion. Incredibly a second departure from a major club would soon be around the corner and the potential Newcastle signing found himself under further scrutiny.

Zirkzee suffered a devastating hook against Newcastle when Ruben Amorim subbed the Dutchman after 33 minutes in the 2-0 defeat before the new year. Zirkzee has netted just four goals in 28 matches for the Red Devils.

Ashworth left Man United in early December after his move to the Old Trafford boardroom did not work out. It left Zirkzee trying to impress with the man who signed him now no longer in the building.

Juventus are believed to be keen on taking Zirkzee on a loan deal until the end of the season, but Man United want a cash deal.

When pressed about Zirkzee's future, Amorim told Talksport over the weekend: "I want to keep Josh because he gives everything and he’s trying in training but we don’t know.

“The window is open and we will see what happens. We just need to focus on training and to take this for the other games".

Napoli, Inter Milan and AC Milan are all monitoring the situation according to Sky Sports.