What Newcastle United now clearly need to do if Dan Ashworth does join Manchester United

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Newcastle United are now on the verge of losing their Sporting Director Dan Ashworth to Manchester United.

There’s little Newcastle can do with Ashworth clearly wanting the move to Old Trafford after just two years in his current role, but there’s no reason the Magpies should be panicking.

As reported by Fabrizio Romano, Ashworth has already said yes to Man United’s offer and now it is about what Newcastle need to do next, and that is to stay calm and figure out their next steps ahead of a big summer window.

Newcastle will be absolutely fine after Ashworth leaves

There appears to be a bit of panic amongst parts of the fanbase who are viewing this potential departure as a disaster and a sign that Newcastle will now struggle to make it to the top of football.

That, however, couldn’t be further from the truth and there are several reasons as to why the football club will continue to progress and get stronger as the years go on, even without Ashworth’s guidance.

Prior to the 52-year-old’s arrival, Newcastle were not working with a sporting director and instead Eddie Howe was doing a lot of the recruitment work alongside his coaching role.

While not ideal for Howe, the club made signings like Kieran Trippier, Bruno Guimaraes and Dan Burn in that first window which have proved to be absolutely key in getting Newcastle to where they are to day.

Newcastle will also be receiving a decent fee for Ashworth as Man United are wanting to hire him for this role as soon as possible, meaning a deal could be worth more than the initial rumoured fee of £6m.

Newcastle now need to find the perfect replacement

As previously mentioned, the world won’t end for Newcastle once Ashworth leaves, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t brilliant at his job and it’s important that the club get his replacement spot on.

Whoever comes in won’t necessarily be responsible for finding the next star player for Newcastle like Alexander Isak or Anthony Gordon but rather helping to build the club and develop from within.

What will be huge is whatever happens with the academy as Ashworth had already made a huge start in developing the recruitment for the young squads who recently brought in talents like Travis Hernes, Trevon Sanusi and Cathel Heffernan.

These are names who may not mean much now but will be hoping to graduate into the first team, and it’s so important for the owners that whoever they hire continues the growth of this side of the club.