Man Utd appoint new Sporting Director & set date for transfer action

Man Utd have appointed Dan Ashworth as their new Sporting Director as Sir Jim Rattlciffe’s upheaval of the struggling Premier League side gets underway.

Ineos owner and Man Utd majority shareholder Jim Ratcliffe has begun his remodelling of the Red Devils by appointing Dan Ashworth as Sporting Director.

The move comes just over 2 months after Ratcliffe had set Jason Wilcox in place as Technical Director of the club in one of his first of many expected moves.

Ashworth had been on gardening leave from Newcastle United for over 4 months, as they and Man Utd tried to settle his move. The two Premier League sides finally came to an agreement, with Ashworth’s new position announced today.

Ratcliffe has previously expressed umbrage towards how gardening leave situations and their effect on the speed of progress when taking over a new club.

In an interview with Bloomberg, the United chief said “I see absolutely no point in the gardening leave thing that they have in football,”.

“It just makes it difficult to change things with pace”

Alongside Ashworth now being allowed to begin his role as Man Utd Sporting Director, the club have also outlined a clear date as of which action can be taken in the transfer market.

It is no secret that United are in desperate need of a good transfer season, with injuries and a jam-packed playing schedule pushing the depth of their squad to the limit in the 2023/2024 season.

It is expected that the club will really start to make moves in the market, however, when Omar Berrada takes his place alongside Ashworth as a CEO, which is said to be the 13th of July.

Berrada was also on a 6-month gardening leave period from Man City, where he earned great praise for his squad building, and is expected to be a power-house solution for Man Utd alongside Ashworth.

Despite the excitement this may bring for Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his team, he has been warned that it could take two or three summer windows in order for the Ineos owner to fully reshape his squad.

For now, it will be interesting to see what Dan Ashworth proposes to do in his new role as Man Utd Sporting Director, as Ratcliffe’s takeover proves continues to form.