Newcastle United have left Manchester United frustrated after standing firm over Dan Ashworth, but Alan Shearer believes a breakthrough will be made.
Alan Shearer believes it is ‘just a matter of time’ before Manchester United and Newcastle United agree on a deal for Dan Ashworth.
Ashworth has been on gardening leave for a few months now, having informed people above him that he wanted to leave Newcastle. Manchester United will need to reach an arrangement with Newcastle to shorten the lengthy notice period, much as the Magpies did with Brighton to hire the 53-year-old in the first place in 2022.
Newcastle initially demanded an eight-figure compensation package of up to £20 million to allow Ashworth to begin work earlier at Manchester United, which Sir Jim Ratcliffe described as’silly’, and the Red Devils part-owner said it was ‘absurd’ that the sporting director could be out of action for the best part of two years if they did not pay up. Sir Jim’s anger were still palpable on Sunday, when the billionaire stated that the amount of time staff had to spend on gardening leave was ‘one of the major problems’ and a’real issue in football’. However, Shearer predicts that the two clubs will make a breakthrough.
“He’s running the football operations, so he’s made his intentions known,” the Newcastle veteran told the Rest is Football podcast. “He has Southampton’s Jason Wilcox in there currently. He has [Dave] Brailsford in there.
“He’ll get Dan Ashworth in there.” It’s just a matter of time. A deal will be reached. Whether they have to pay what they wanted or not, a deal will be reached with Newcastle.
