Manchester, Dec 8 Dan Ashworth has left his role as Manchester United sporting director after just five months. Ashworth officially joined United on July 1 after a lengthy period of gardening leave at his former club Newcastle United.
"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 and wish him well for the future," read the statement by Manchester United.
Ashworth’s departure was reportedly agreed in a meeting with chief executive Omar Berrada at Old Trafford after United’s Premier League game with Nottingham Forest on Saturday evening.
An earlier report by Daily Mail suggested that Dan Ashworth was one of the reasons behind the club choosing to extend former head coach Erik Ten Hag’s contract over the summer break. The move certainly backfired, as the Dutch head coach was fired just weeks into the season disrupting the Red Devils’ ongoing campaign, which left co-owner Jim Ratcliffe furious with the Sporting Director
"Our first big decision of the summer was to extend Erik ten Hag’s contract as men’s first-team manager to June 2026, reflecting our strong belief in him as one of Europe’s top coaches," said Ashworth at the time.
The removal of the sporting director also comes as a huge shock after Manchester United had put in a lot of effort to snatch Ashworth from the hands of Newcastle United.
Ashworth was involved in an extravagant spending spree at Old Trafford during the summer that cost approximately 200 million Pounds (280 million USD) and brought in Leny Yoro, Manuel Ugarte, Matthijs De Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui, and Joshua Zirkzee.
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