Manchester United have no plans of paying Newcastle United’s ‘silly’ asking price for Dan Ashworth, even though the Magpies reportedly lower their requests.
The former Brighton executive is on gardening leave after informing Newcastle that he had accepted an offer from Manchester United to become their new sporting director.
Newcastle were angry with Ashworth and informed him he would have to go through a notice period of around 20 months, unless the Red Devils paid a compensation package of around £25m.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe labelled those reported figures as ‘silly’ and ‘absurd’, with United prepared to wait until 2026 to get their man.
Newcastle have apparently lowered their demands to £20m, but say Ashworth will not be released from his gardening leave until after the summer transfer window.
But the Manchester Evening News say the Red Devils’ stance hasn’t changed, and they still feel Newcastle’s demands are excessive.
Added to that, the Magpies are walking a Financial Fair Play tightrope and United don’t want to hand them a large figure for a non-playing member of staff.
They will therefore play the long game, and hope to talk Newcastle down from their figure.
The report claims Newcastle paid less than £4m to extract Ashworth from his Brighton contract only two years ago.
Omar Berrada will join as United’s new CEO and is currently serving gardening leave at Manchester City.
United hope to appoint Jason Wilcox as head of recruitment.
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