Manchester United finally agree deal to appoint Dan Ashworth as sporting director

Manchester United have finally agreed a deal for Dan Ashworth to become their new sporting director.

Ashworth was placed on gardening leave by Newcastle earlier this year amid interest from Ineos, which has taken over the running of the Red Devils' football operations after its founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe bought a minority stake in the club.

It is understood Ashworth will begin his new role at Old Trafford with immediate effect.

Newcastle had been reported to be seeking £20million to release Ashworth, a figure Ratcliffe described as "a bit silly" back in February, but a compromise has now been reached.

Ashworth becomes the latest major off-field addition to the United set-up, with Omar Berrada joining from Manchester City as chief executive and Jason Wilcox coming in from Southampton as academy director.

Ashworth first came to prominence for his work at West Brom, before moving to the Football Association as its technical director in 2012.

Prior to joining Newcastle in 2022, Ashworth had been with Brighton.

Speaking earlier this year when a deal for Ashworth was still be to struck, Ratcliffe said: "I think Dan Ashworth is clearly one of the top sporting directors in the world. I've no doubt he's a very, very capable person.

"And he's interested in the Manchester United job because it's probably the biggest sporting director job in the world just now, with the biggest challenge.

"It would be different if you were sporting director at Manchester City, because you're just maintaining a level. With Manchester United, you've got quite a significant building job.

"I think it'd be a very good addition to Manchester United, but he needs to decide whether he's going to make that jump.

"We've obviously had words with Newcastle. They clearly would be disappointed to lose Dan. I understand why they would be disappointed to lose Dan but then you can't equally criticise Dan because it is a transient industry.

"So we'll have to see how it unfolds. What I do think is completely absurd is suggesting that a man who's really good at his job, sits in his garden for one and a half years.

"I mean, that's completely stupid. We had a very grown-up conversation with Manchester City about Omar (Berrada). Things calmed up and we sorted it out very amicably."