Manchester United continue to focus on key appointments with the Ineos era starting to get moving ahead of the summer transfer window.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe and co want to completely revolutionise United – both on and off the pitch.
We can all see United failing to hit the mark on the pitch but there are many contributing factors off the pitch too.
United’s recruitment has not been good enough and the lack of proven top-end football operators inside the club has been a problem.
Ineos are now trying to solve that and have already made a couple of key appointments.
Manchester City’s Omar Berrada is coming in as the club’s new CEO whilst Jason Wilcox has become the club’s new technical director.
Former City man Wilcox had his move confirmed on Friday and he was in attendance as United beat Coventry City in the FA Cup semi-finals on Sunday.
There is still business to be done though and one move is seriously dragging on and on…
Manchester United stance on Dan Ashworth
United want to bring in Newcastle United’s Dan Ashworth as the club’s new sporting director.
Ashworth was placed on gardening leave in February and wants the move to Old Trafford amid claims that he hasn’t had the level of control he expected at Newcastle.
That was more than two months ago now though and there has been little movement on Ashworth’s future.
Newcastle continue to demand fairly hefty compensation and it sounds like United aren’t too keen on paying it.
The Telegraph claim that Newcastle still want around £10million for Ashworth and Ineos aren’t currently planning to meet those demands.
It’s suggested that United believe that £10million could be better-used on signing players this summer rather than giving it to Newcastle.
Ashworth will head to United at some point but Ineos seem happy to wait – even though Ashworth could be on gardening leave until the summer of 2026.
We can’t imagine Ineos wanting to wait that long, but they seem ready to head into the summer transfer window without having Ashworth on board.
Ashworth latest may divide opinion
We can totally understand Ineos wanting to use that £10million in order to strengthen the squad, especially with Wilcox already on board.
Wilcox will be able to take a key role ahead of the summer and get the ball rolling on this new United era before Ashworth arrives.
However, the flip side is that Ashworth’s reputation for being a strong negotiator and fine talent spotter means you could argue that his expertise can save United more than £10million in the transfer market anyway.
Some may feel that this is an almost Glazer-type move; a stance which could leave United at a disadvantage in the short term rather than paying up.
United have wasted plenty of money over the years though and Ineos standing their ground will actually impress some supporters.
Ineos will trust Wilcox to get the job done and then hopefully welcome Ashworth to Old Trafford down the line, hopefully in time for at least one of the 2025 transfer windows.
United seem to be miles away from Newcastle’s asking price for Ashworth and that means it may be a while until we see him officially in work at Old Trafford with Ineos unwilling to budge.