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Dan Ashworth is already thinking about his potential plans for Manchester United and wants to raid old club Brighton in one of his first moves as sporting director.
The Newcastle United chief is believed to have decided to leave St James’ Park following an approach from the Red Devils to become their first-ever sporting director.
Newcastle had hoped they might be able to convince Ashworth to stay, but he wants to move to Old Trafford and already has an existing relationship with Ineos director of sport Sir Dave Brailsford, who is overseeing the transition following Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s purchase of a 25 per cent stake in the club.
United will now enter into talks with Newcastle over a compensation package for Ashworth, with the Magpies expected to demand a ‘significant’ fee.
According to ESPN, Ashworth’s first and most significant responsibility will be rebuilding United’s scouting department – and he already knows who he wants to head up the new structure.
Ashworth is eager to be reunited with Brighton’s head of recruitment Sam Jewell, the son of former Wigan and Bradford manager Paul Jewell, who he first encountered in 2018.
Jewell was brought in initially as the Seagulls’ head of Under-21 recruitment in 2016, two years before Ashworth arrived, but has worked his way up through the ranks in the eight years since.
He has been a key figure in Brighton’s excellent transfer business in recent years and was instrumental in deals for the likes of Alexis Mac Allister, Moises Caicedo and Julio Enciso.
Jewell has identified a host of emerging talents from South America and signed them for low fees before then offloading them for massive profits.
United have yet to make a formal approach for Jewell and want to secure a deal for Ashworth first.
But the Brighton man is very highly rated by Ashworth and seen as an ideal addition to his new-look team at United, while his success on the south coast has also been noted by Ineos.
Jewell may not have been Ashworth and United’s first choice for the role, however, with other reports suggesting former Tottenham, Southampton and Monaco sporting director Paul Mitchell was also on their radar.
However, Mitchell – who signed the likes of Virgil van Dijk and Son Heung-min – is not interested in taking up the role, which purely focuses on recruitment, and has turned down United’s offer.
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