Dan Ashworth could make instant Premier League return following Manchester United departure
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Dan Ashworth is a potential candidate to become Everton’s new sporting director, talkSPORT understands.
Ashworth is back on the market following his shock exit from Manchester United last weekend after only five months.
The former Brighton and Newcastle supremo is believed to be held in high regard by incoming Everton owner Dan Friedkin.
Kevin Thelwell is Everton’s current sporting director, but Roma chief Friedkin is likely to want to bring in his own people once his takeover is ratified by the Premier League later this month.
Ashworth has also been touted as a potential replacement for Edu at Arsenal having previously worked with Gunners’ managing director Richard Garlick at West Brom.
However Edu’s deputy Jason Ayto is in a good position to land the role full-time after stepping up as interim in the wake of the Brazilian’s exit.
Other names on Arsenal’s list of options include Real Sociedad’s Roberto Olabe, who once signed manager Mikel Arteta.
Ashworth only joined United on July 1, having been described by part-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe as 'one of the top sporting directors in the world'.
But it appears that his transition has not gone smoothly and his departure was announced a day after Saturday’s 3-2 Premier League defeat to Nottingham Forest left United 13th in the table.
A club statement said: “Dan Ashworth will be leaving his role as Sporting Director of Manchester United by mutual agreement.
“We would like to thank Dan for his work and support during a transitional period for the club wish him well for the future.”
Although United have described the decision as mutual, the manner and timing of Ashworth’s departure will likely raise more questions for Ratcliffe’s Ineos group.
Ashworth, together with the rest of the United hierarchy, was involved in the decision to offer former manager Erik ten Hag a new contract in the summer, having been quoted in the official announcement in June.
However, Ten Hag was dismissed in October, with that contract extension contributing to a significant compensation bill of £10.4m, prior to the appointment of Ruben Amorim, who took charge last month after United paid around £11m to secure him from Sporting Lisbon.
talkSPORT understands that Ashworth was keen on hiring Gareth Southgate to replace Ten Hag instead of Amorim.
Ashworth also played a role in an expensive summer of recruitment, with the combined fees for Leny Yoro, Manuel Ugarte, Matthijs De Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui, and Joshua Zirkzee amounting to approximately £200m.
United spent around five months attempting to lure Ashworth from his previous position at Newcastle, with the 53-year-old going on gardening leave. However, Ineos must now seek to fill one of the most crucial roles at the club once again or consider altering the structure.
Ashworth met with chief executive Omar Berrada after the final whistle on Saturday. He was seen quickly passing through the press conference room to another part of the stadium with chief operating officer Collette Roche.
Sunday’s announcement comes one day after the release of an interview with Ratcliffe in the United We Stand fanzine, in which the 72-year-old admitted to having made “one or two errors” in terms of getting the right people in place at United.
Referring to French club Nice and Swiss side Lausanne, also part of the Ineos sporting empire, Ratcliffe said: “If I hadn’t done Nice and Lausanne then we wouldn’t have come into United knowing that it’s quite a journey to get to the point where your antenna is working.
“Our antenna wasn’t perfect at United and we’ve made one or two errors, but they’re a lot better than they would have been than if we’d not done Nice and Lausanne.”
