Gary Neville and Alan Shearer disagree over Man Utd's Dan Ashworth pursuit

19 February 2024 , 14:24

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Gary Neville and Alan Shearer have disagreed over Dan Ashworth's move to Manchester United

Gary Neville and Alan Shearer unsurprisingly look to be on opposite sides of the debate around the fee Manchester United should pay to bring in Dan Ashworth.

Ashworth is widely regarded as one of the top recruitment minds in football, with United desperate to appoint him. He has spent the past two years at the Magpies, though has now been placed on gardening leave as he pushes to join the Red Devils.

But Newcastle are demanding a compensation fee of £20million in order to let him move to Old Trafford. If not, the Red Devils will have to wait out the full extent of his gardening leave, which would run until 2026.

Neville though insists that United would be able to negotiate with Newcastle to bring the compensation fee down. If they can do that, the Red Devils legend believes it would be a steal.

"I don’t know if Dan has anything in his contract, how easy it is to get a sporting director out of his contract, I’m not sure how it works. I’d expect it’s more of a normal employee type situation, he won’t be able to go for free and he won’t be able to walk out and work for United tomorrow," he told Sky Sports.

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"I’d imagine there’ll be some sort of restriction on the move, and if that’s the sporting director they want, I’m sure Newcastle United will have made some sort of clause in his contract to make sure he can’t work for another club in the same space for a 12-month period, I’m sure of that.

"Manchester United might end up just paying out the contract because for me, it’s absolutely imperative they get someone in that position for the next transfer window. If you pay £10m to get Dan Ashworth in, you might not end up blowing another £100m on poor moves in the next window."

Newcastle are demanding a fee of £20million to allow Ashworth to join Manchester United (Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images)

“When you think for ten years, every manager has operated with a CEO that hasn’t been in a football club before, without a sporting director, without a known head of recruitment, it’s madness and forget negligence, it’s just madness.

“I think what we’re seeing now is just normality, it’s nothing special at the moment. Just putting good people into one of the best clubs in the world is a sensible thing to do.”

But while Neville believes United need to convince Newcastle to cut their demands by £10m, Shearer has insisted the fee is too low. The Magpies icon believes that the Ashworth's current employers should be demanding much more.

In response to reports of the compensation Newcastle are asking for, Shearer tweeted: “Is that all?” As it stands, the two clubs are at an impasse, with Newcastle so far remaining steadfast on their demands, though boss Eddie Howe has called for a quick resolution.

“It’s better for everybody if that’s the case,” he responded when asked if a swift conclusion would be more beneficial. “Recruitment is a 365-day-a-year job. “It never sleeps and, yes, Dan is in a position of power and privy to a lot of intelligence and information.”

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Jacob Leeks