Just after 5 months of service the Director of Football at United gets a sack. The former Newcastle employee was wanted by Man United eagerly and they even got him after waiting for 6 months by paying around £3m. Now Dan Ashworth will leave with around £15m compensation after working for such a short period.
Omar Berrada and Sir Jim’s call?
The sporting director was told to part ways with the club after a meeting with the Chief Executive Omar Berrada. Various sources say that the separation was instigated by United and finally a mutual decision was held.
INEOS and Sir Jim Retcliffe brought Omar Berrada, Dan Ashworth, Jason Wilcox and other significant signings in the management team in the summer. The whole fan base including the Mancunians were satisfied with the ‘business’ of the company. The club was thought to be moving in the right direction and it became even more prominent after the signing of the new manager Amorim. What went wrong in the board of the club? Currently all the United fans have this same question.
Fabrizio Romano via X revealed the situation between Sir Jim and Dan Ashworth was a little tense.
There can be a lot of probabilities – maybe Dan Ashworth had other visions with the club which did not align with the CEO and the ownership. Also there is a chance of disagreement on the future signings or talent acquisition process in which the other members like Christopher Vivell also have a say.
According to talkSport “The then sporting director favoured hiring an English manager, with Gareth Southgate top of his list. Sources have described there being a personality clash between Dan Ashworth and Berrada.”
Ashworth’s time at the club
As a director of football Ashworth was involved in a lot of signings since joining which included the arrivals of Yoro, Ugarte, De Ligt, Mazraoui and Zirkzee which cost around £200 million.
In February 2024, Newcastle was informed by him that Manchester United had approached him to appoint and he was interested. Newcastle demanded a compensation of £20m for letting him go.
In July, his former club agreed on the deal with the Red devils and Ashworth officially started his work at United.
In August, Ashworth played a vital role in signing players worth around £200 million and had a successful window with the former manager Ten Hag.
In October, Ashworth along with Barreda told Ten Hag about his future at the club after discussion within the executive committee of the club.
In November, Amorim joined as a manager and said that he feels a connection with the people in the management specially Omar, Jason and Dan.
In December, Ashworth gets sacked.
Who can become the next Sporting Director?
United have already had more than six managers in the past twelve years and never had a stable board of members with great footballing knowledge like they have now. They definitely had plans to keep Dan for a longer amount of time, as the actual reason is unknown at least fans would expect the CEO Berrada to have a longer time. Although there are people like Wilcox at the club still United would look for the gap to be filled as currently they have a system and hierarchy.
Roberto Olabe is a name being asked by the fans on social media. Olabe is also in ‘advanced talks’ with Arsenal and can be their new sporting director after Edu Gaspar’s exit.
