It isn’t just Eddie Howe and the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) that have been the behind Newcastle United’s recent success.
Though he may not be public facing, sporting director, Dan Ashworth, has been a key cog in the Magpies wheel over the past few years.
Evidently someone whom Howe trusts and respects, the pair have worked wonderfully together in terms of securing targets.
That relationship could soon be coming to an end, however, after it was revealed that INEOS have always seen Ashworth as a priority for their own sporting director post.
“A number of names were mentioned in connection with the Man United sporting director post earlier in the season, but I can repeat again that Dan Ashworth has always, always been the priority for INEOS,” Fabrizio Romano said in his exclusive Daily Briefing for CaughtOffside.
“He has worked well with Eddie Howe at Newcastle but sees Man United as an important, ambitious project and Ashworth’s tempted by that.”
After what’s been a below par season for the North East giants, mainly down to injuries to key players it’s true, losing Ashworth will arguably come as a huge blow for the club.
If the 52-year-old does want to move to pastures new, however, it’s important for all concerned that talks aren’t allowed to drag on.
“It’s unlikely that Newcastle are just gonna let him walk away guys, but sources guarantee that he believes that Man United are building something important and so he’d be ready to accept” Romano added.
“It now depends now on the two clubs with talks likely to begin shortly.”
Should the deal conclude, quite how this will affect both Man United and Newcastle moving forward won’t be known for a few months.
It’s clear that Ashworth will be under enormous pressure to deliver, though it would appear that he’s up for the challenge if given the opportunity.