Report now shares how much Manchester United are willing to pay to release Dan Ashworth from his contract
The saga of Dan Ashworth's defection from Newcastle United to Manchester United is now longer than the entirety of Lord of the Rings.
I can't believe it's the middle of June and we're still writing about negotiations between Newcastle and Man United over the compensation fee for Dan Ashworth.
Ashworth has been on gardening leave since February after telling Newcastle chiefs he'd accepted a job offer from Manchester United.
Newcastle are demanding around £20million from Jim Ratcliffe to free Ashworth from his contract early, otherwise, he will remain on gardening leave until his contract expires in 2026.
Manchester United are offering just £3m for Ashworth
Newcastle's own search for a replacement took a setback when Crystal Palace's head of recruitment Dougie Freedman turned down the job offer from Newcastle in favour of staying at Palace.
It was believed that Newcastle bringing in a new sporting director would accelerate the process between the two Uniteds but the search continues.
Now The Telegraph has said in a report today that Manchester United are refusing to budge on their compensation offer of £3million.
This may take a long time yet
The two clubs are £17million apart on their demands, so it's no wonder this process is taking so long.
The Telegraph claims that the figure Newcastle are demanding is £15million plus add-ons, so it is probably still close to £20million overall, however, even at £15million, that's still quite a disparity.
It looks like there's still no end in sight for this one which means there's still plenty of time for more of Dan Ashworth's cockups to be uncovered. Fun times.
