Dan Ashworth may be finally able to put down his trowel after Newcastle United reopened talks with Brighton.
Ashworth, of course, was put on gardening leave by the Seagulls after resigning as technical director last February to take up a new role with Newcastle, but his notice period does not run out until November. Although Newcastle's owners are determined not to be held to ransom by Brighton, it is easy to see why the Magpies have made a fresh attempt to bring in Ashworth at an earlier date.
Newcastle will spend bigger sums on players this summer, but Ashworth would be the club's most important addition if he is to arrive in the coming weeks. This is the man, after all, who will create a structure and establish an overarching philosophy in the medium to long-term as he oversees the men's first team, the women's team, player recruitment, the academy, medical and sports science, and the loan department.
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Ashworth will be keen to observe and assess in his first few months at the club and provide the support these departments have long needed rather than completely ripping up the foundations. However, if Ashworth is to arrive in time for the summer window, the sporting director could still be a real asset.
Brighton, like Newcastle's transfer committee, tackled transfer windows collaboratively and the Seagulls' head of recruitment, Paul Winstanley, mainly handled incomings while it was Ashworth who led on outgoings. It was only during a busy time at the end of a summer, where Brighton may be targeting a number of players, that those targets would be divided up between Winstanley, Ashworth and chief executive Paul Barber.
It is hard not to imagine a similar arrangement at Newcastle between Ashworth and head of recruitment Steve Nickson, who impressed the owners with his knowledge, attention to detail and work ethic last January, and the former's trading record could yet prove invaluable. You have to go back nearly three years for the last time a senior player of note, Joselu, commanded a fee when he left Newcastle but that poor record simply has to change this summer.
Ashworth, in contrast, has helped Brighton raise millions over the years and Ben White and Anthony Knockaert were among those sold at a huge profit. In fact, even at a loss, it was rare a senior player left for nothing and that was also the case during Ashworth's time at West Brom.
Lee Darnbrough, who served as head of performance analysis and then head of technical recruitment at West Brom, quickly noted how Ashworth had a knack of 'maximising the sale potential of the players at the right time'.
"It was the quality of the player, to sell the player at the right time, when it was beneficial for us as a club," he told ChronicleLive. "Making sure we had succession plans in place to keep the group strong and reinvigorate and go again.
"Players like Diomansy Kamara and Zoltan Gera went when the time was right for the club, and our performance didn't drop."
Newcastle's owners are keen to comply with the Premier League's profit and sustainability regulations so it is crucial that the Magpies generate funds when selling players while also reducing the wage bill and the age profile of the squad.
Aston Villa may have already spent big on a pair of 29-year-olds, in Philippe Coutinho and Diego Carlos, but Steven Gerrard has a younger squad. In contrast, at Newcastle, a whopping 18 players who have featured this season are aged 28 and older.
Perhaps, then, it is not a surprise that there are question marks surrounding the futures of Federico Fernandez (33), Matt Ritchie (32), Dwight Gayle (32), Ciaran Clark (32), Karl Darlow (31), Jeff Hendrick (30) and Javier Manquillo (28) and others this summer.
Howe is very conscious of the average age of his squad after feeling like he could not take a chance on younger players who needed to time adapt in January because of Newcastle's dire situation in the table at the time. While Howe is still keen to bring in further Premier League experience this summer, the Magpies' boss is more open to signing more players like Bruno Guimaraes on the continent.
Ashworth may yet help raise the additional funds to allow Howe to do just that in the coming years.
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