Arsenal

The Athletic’s David Ornstein insists Man Utd are “not yet any/much closer” to bringing in Newcastle sporting director Dan Ashworth.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe completed a deal to buy 25 per cent of the Premier League club last month with the British billionaire now in charge of the footballing operation.

The INEOS founder has already brought in Omar Berrada from arch-rivals Man City as the new CEO, while Ashworth is expected to follow if they can agree compensation with Newcastle.

Ratcliffe and INEOS also reportedly want Crystal Palace’s Dougie Freedman as their new head of recruitment and Southampton’s Jason Wilcox as technical director.

Widespread reports have indicated that Newcastle are looking for around £20m to allow Ashworth to leave for Man Utd but the Red Devils are hoping to pay around half that amount.

Yesterday, the Daily Telegraph insisted that the Magpies ‘want to speed up Ashworth’s exit as [Paul] Mitchell heads a shortlist of candidates to replace the Manchester United-bound sporting director’.

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Sky Sports reporter Dharmesh Sheth issued his own update too and claimed that Man Utd luring Ashworth to Old Trafford was a “matter of when and not if”.

Sheth told GiveMeSport: “The fact that we are getting more excited about men in suits than actual transfers shows how important these roles have become at football clubs, particularly at Manchester United.

“It looks like it’s a matter of when and not if Dan Ashworth will take up the sporting director post. We know that Manchester United have made an approach and that he wants to go. As a result of that, Newcastle have placed him on gardening leave.

“There is going to be a lot of brinkmanship