Dan Ashworth Leaves Manchester United After Just Five Months At Old Trafford

Dan Ashworth has left Manchester United following showdown talks last night.

The sporting director’s shock exit comes after just five months at Old Trafford.

Ashworth joined the club in July following a lengthy gardening leave period after he quit Newcastle.

The 53-year-old was appointed by Man Utd to oversee “performance, recruitment and operations”, with the Red Devils agreeing to pay £3million in compensation to the Toon.

But following showdown talks with CEO Omar Berrada after the 3-2 defeat to Nottingham Forest last night, Ashworth quit by mutual consent.

A club statement read: “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.”

Ashworth played a huge role in United’s £183million summer spending spree during the first transfer window under Ineos leadership.

Ashworth was also involved in the decision to initially keep Erik ten Hag and hand him a new contract, only for him to be sacked just 14 games later.

The former FA chief, who was credited with creating the “England DNA”, was quoted in the statements confirming every signing.

Ashworth’s departure comes as a huge shock to many, with one fan saying: “Man Utd waited longer to get Ashworth out of Newcastle than he has lasted in the job. Mad.”

Another added: “Utterly embarrassing and the amount of time and money to secure him. The direction of the club is meant to be based on the structure and at this moment that feels insecure. Shambles.”

But others defended the decision, commenting: “If someone isn’t working, then get rid. No point keeping someone if it’s not working.”

Ratcliffe previously hailed Ashworth as “clearly one of the top sporting directors in the world”.

But yesterday he suggested United are still miles behind where they need to be when it comes to transfers.

Ratcliffe said: “We’ve not been good enough at recruitment, you probably agree with that. Everybody would agree with that.

“And until we’re as good as anyone in the world, then it’s not good enough for Manchester United.

“We must have the best recruitment in the world. Data analysis comes alongside recruitment. It doesn’t really exist here. We’re still in the last century on data analysis here.

“There’s an immense amount of useful data that we can get from data analysis and we’re in the ‘very poor’ bracket with data analysis here.

“These things don’t happen overnight. You can’t just flick a light switch and sort out recruitment. It’s all about people and we need to find the right people.”