Manchester United are close to confirming that Dan Ashworth is set to start as their new sporting director.
Ashworth, 53, has been on gardening leave since February after expressing his desire to join Manchester United’s revamped setup under Ineos. The former Football Association and Brighton technical director had been preparing to take Newcastle United to arbitration to resolve the delay over his move.
However, it is understood that negotiations between the clubs resulted in an out-of-court settlement agreed upon late last week, clearing the way for Ashworth to begin his new role immediately.
In a February interview with BBC Sports Editor Dan Roan, new Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe remarked that it "doesn’t make sense for Dan Ashworth to be sat around doing nothing for 18 months."
Ashworth, who previously worked at West Brom, the Football Association, and Brighton before joining Newcastle in 2022, has a long-standing relationship with Ineos head of sport Sir Dave Brailsford from his time at the FA.
He joins a newly restructured leadership team at Old Trafford, which includes Jason Wilcox as technical director from Southampton and Omar Berrada, a senior former Manchester City executive, set to join as chief executive.
These changes follow Sir Jim Ratcliffe's acquisition of a minority stake in the club earlier this year, which led to Ineos Group overseeing football operations. Despite a disappointing season, which concluded with an FA Cup win, the club's board confirmed earlier this month that Erik ten Hag will remain as manager.