Man United take firm stance on Dan Ashworth fee with Sir Jim Ratcliffe not willing to play ball

Manchester United are not budging on what they're willing to pay for Dan Ashworth, even after finding out the real price Newcastle paid Brighton for him two years ago.

The Red Devils have targeted Ashworth for their new recruitment shake-up, with the director of football currently placed on gardening leave after informing his club that he wanted to make the move to Old Trafford. Man United's new minority shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe called Newcastle "silly", "stupid" and "absurd" for wanting as much as £20million for Ashworth - with the Premier League giants reportedly not willing to pay over £10 million for the 53-year-olds services.

Although Newcastle were believed to have paid £4million for Ashworth when he left Brighton in 2022, a well-placed source has told the Manchester Evening News that it was actually a lot less. "I think Dan Ashworth is clearly one of the top sporting directors in the world, I've no doubt," said Ratcliffe last month. He's a very capable person. He's interested in the Manchester United job because it's probably the biggest sporting director job in the world just now, with the biggest challenge.

"It would be different if you were the sporting director at Manchester City because you would just be maintaining a level, at Manchester United you've got quite a significant building job. I think he would be a very good addition to Manchester United but he needs to decide whether he's going to make that jump."

"We've obviously had words with Newcastle. They would clearly be disappointed to lose Dan. Newcastle have been very, very successful, they've done really well since the new ownership, they play some good football and it's transformed the club. I understand why they would be disappointed to lose