Newcastle United finally confirmed the appointment of Dan Ashworth as sporting director after months of negotiations and compensation agreements with former club Brighton. Ashworth left the Seagulls in February amid speculation at a move up north, becoming the Magpies’ first sporting director since the Saudi-backed takeover.
The arrival of a sporting director became one of the most important priorities for Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi once they took charge of the club, headed on a temporary basis by former head of football operations at Celtic, Nick Hammond, for the January window.
Between then and now, the hierarchy at St James’ Park have been working behind the scenes to secure the services of one of the most effective players in Premier League recruitment in Ashworth.
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The 51-year-old worked with Brighton since 2018, elevating the club from relegation scrappers to an aesthetically pleasing and established Premier League team - finishing ninth this season.
Prior to his appointment at the AMEX, Ashworth worked as academy director and then sporting director at West Brom, before moving to the FA as director of elite development.
But what exactly can Newcastle fans expect from Dan Ashworth? And is he the man to propel the club forward in the same way Brighton have and then some?
Ashworth oversaw a huge churn of players on the south coast, developing a squad on a low budget through shrewd recruitment tailored to the playing style of manager Graham Potter. He also managed to effectively trim the squad of fringe players or those who have passed peak age - At Newcastle, think Dwight Gayle, Matt Ritchie, Federico Fernandez et. al.
In terms of incomings, the majority of signings at Brighton were those coming into their peak in the next couple of years who were available in under-appreciated markets. These were either out-of-favour players at well-known clubs (Tariq Lamptey, Danny Welbeck, Adam Lallana) or players outside of the top five leagues such as Leandro Trossard from Genk or Enock Mwepu from RB Salzburg.
How much of this is down to Ashworth’s philosophy and how much is determined by financial restrictions on a club such as Brighton is hard to say, but what Brighton proved brilliantly under the tutelage of their sporting director is that a player doesn’t have to cost a fortune to improve a squad.
It’s that nack of plucking players from undervalued leagues in Belgium, Austria or the Czech Republic that really set Ashworth apart from the pack in England. Sometimes it didn’t work as well as one hoped - as with Alireza Jahanbakhsh who signed for more than £17 million from AZ Alkmaar before being sold to Feyenoord three years later for less than £1 million - but the success rate made the mistakes worth it.
That ability could prove priceless for Newcastle who, despite the well-documented wealth of the new owners, will unlikely be throwing £200-300 million every summer. Having someone like Ashworth in charge with money to spend means that the club can make two/three marquee signings which are then topped up with intelligent, purposeful arrivals from around Europe.
During his time at Brighton, Ashworth oversaw signings like Mwepu, Trossard, Lamptey, Adam Webster, Moises Caicedo and Marc Cucurella - turning Brighton into a team capable of going toe-to-toe with the league’s big spenders.
And now he is at one of the league’s big spenders, with a huge task ahead this summer to bring in several and send out even more. Ashworth is no doubt one of Newcastle’s most important early signings, and his experience in overseeing a considered recruitment plan can elevate Newcastle into European challengers.
