Newcastle United are yet to identify who will be replacing Sporting Director Dan Ashworth after he announced he would be leaving to join Man United last month.
There have been several names suggested as possible candidates to take up the role as well as the idea of promoting from within as chief scout Steve Nickson could also be in line for the promotion.
One of those who had been rumoured was Bournemouth’s Richard Hughes who left the club last week to take up a new role and a report from The Times is now claiming that he’s set to join Liverpool if they rehire Michael Edwards.
Newcastle suffer blow in hunt for Ashworth replacement
The rumours surrounding Hughes were fuelled by his relationship with Eddie Howe at Bournemouth which is why it looked to be a match made in heaven, though now it looks unlikely to happen.
Newcastle had also shown an interest in Michael Edwards who hadn’t been part of a football club since leaving Liverpool in 2022, but he now looks like he could be re-joining the Reds this summer as Newcastle suffer a double blow.
Hughes is likely to team up with Edwards at the Merseyside club who will be entering a new era following the news that Jurgen Klopp will be leaving at the end of the season, so they want the very best to kick off this new stage.
Newcastle’s search for an Ashworth replacement continues as their list of potential candidates gets shorter, but they’ll no doubt be doing thorough research on every name they could look to bring in, so it could yet take some time.
Newcastle have to find the right man for the job
Although they protected themselves well with Ashworth’s contract as they are now demanding £20m from Man United, Newcastle don’t want the next person to take up the job to leave after two years again.
In this role you need someone who is almost guaranteed to be sticking around for the long-term to see the results of their actions at the club, otherwise it simply doesn’t work.
A lot of what Ashworth had been doing was behind the scenes and likely wouldn’t have impacted results on the pitch for years to come, but hiring a new figure could set that back further as they will want to do things their way.
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