Ashworth’s presence already felt at Man United after secret managerial talks

Although he’s on gardening leave from Newcastle United ahead of any potential switch to Man United, it appears that Dan Ashworth is already making his presence felt.

The future of manager, Erik ten Hag, has been speculated upon in recent times, and now The Sun have reported that Ashworth has met former Brighton and Hove Albion and Chelsea manager, Graham Potter, in secret.

Man United could replace ten Hag with Graham Potter

According to the outlet, Potter is the favoured candidate of new part-owner of United, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, and his INEOS right-hand man, Sir Dave Brailsford.

Ashworth also used to work alongside Potter when the pair were at the Seagulls, and it could be said that the pairing should be credited with the club’s resurgence before the latter decided to leave for the Blues.

With the summer transfer window just a few months away and an expected player exodus at Old Trafford, if ten Hag isn’t to be retained, then the new man in charge has to be ready to take over at a moment’s notice.

The end of this season would appear to be the most sensible time, albeit the Dutchman could feel rightly aggrieved at not being able to have at least a couple of transfer windows working alongside the new regime.

Time will tell if Potter is, in fact, the right man to take the club into its new era or whether ten Hag is given a further stay of execution to see if he can get things right.