Newcastle 'agreement in place' as update emerges on £5m St. James' Park call

Newcastle United are ‘unlikely’ to stump up the cash needed to cut Dan Ashworth’s gardening leave short and welcome him to St James’ Park prior to the scheduled end of his notice period, according to Sky Sports reporter Keith Downie.

The Magpies may be the richest club in world football, thanks to the Saudi Arabia-based Public Investment Fund leading a £305million takeover last October, but that has not resulted in them being able to make a quickfire swoop for Ashworth.

The Daily Mail have revealed that Newcastle’s hopes of being able to unveil Ashworth as their new director of football have been dented due to a seven-figure standoff with Brighton & Hove Albion.

It is understood that the Seagulls are demanding a fee of £5million in order to release the 51-year-old from gardening leave, but the Tyneside giants’ owners – led on English shores by Amanda Staveley and her husband Mehrdad Ghodoussi – are refusing to pay what they believe to be an inflated price, meaning Ashworth may not arrive at St James’ Park until November.

Ashworth resigned as Brighton’s technical director in February, with the south coast outfit revealing he was departing the Amex Stadium due to looking to ‘take a similar role at another Premier League club’.

He walked away from the Seagulls having already held initial discussions over the director of football role at Newcastle, with those negotiations coming after Brighton had given the Tynesiders permission to arrange an interview.

Just 24 hours after quitting Brighton, it emerged that Ashworth had already entered advanced talks, but being placed on gardening leave has halted the move from going through.

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Downie understands that