NEWCASTLE UNITED would rather pay Dan Ashworth’s wages for a gardening-leave period that could last longer than a year than allow Manchester United to poach their sporting director on the cheap.

Ashworth has been formally placed on gardening leave after informing Newcastle’s executive team of his desire to leave for Old Trafford on Sunday.

The 52-year-old’s position at St James’ Park is regarded as untenable as he seeks to join Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s new-look set-up at Manchester United, but the Newcastle hierarchy are in no mood to allow him to leave unless their demands are met.

The Magpies are demanding more than £20m for their sporting director, who has been in place for just under two years since leaving Brighton.

They are in a strong bargaining position as the terms of Ashworth’s contract at St James’ Park dictate that he must serve a lengthy period of gardening leave before moving to another club unless Newcastle agree to release him early. That gardening-leave period is understood to stretch to 2026, meaning the former FA chief would effectively be unable to work for almost two years unless Manchester United agree a compromise settlement.

Newcastle’s ownership group are willing to hold talks with Ratcliffe’s team, but are determined to hold out for the maximum possible fee before allowing Ashworth to leave. If they can bank more than £20m for their most senior backroom figure, it would help significantly with the club’s position in relation to the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules, and would potentially remove the need to sell a big-name player in the summer.

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Whatever is agreed with Manchester United, there is no chance of Newcastle allowing Ashworth to leave before the end of this summer’s transfer window given his in-depth knowledge of the club’s proposed transfer moves over the next few months.

While there is an acceptance within the corridors of power at St James’ Park that the opportunity to shape Manchester United’s future development is an attractive proposition, there is also understood to be frustration at the way in which Ashworth has allowed things to play out over the last week or so.

While Manchester United’s interest in securing Ashworth’s services has been an open secret for a while now given the sporting director’s links with INEOS, he was still insisting it was business as usual last week as he attended scouting meetings and was present at Newcastle’s weekend draw with Bournemouth.

It was only on Sunday that he announced his desire to leave Tyneside, despite Manchester United not having made a formal approach to outline their intentions to Newcastle’s owners.

Eddie Howe has clearly been left frustrated by the situation, as highlighted by his comments in Friday’s press conference when he strongly hinted that he did not want Ashworth to continue to play a role in Newcastle’s transfer discussions.

“Recruitment is a 365-day-a-year job,” said Howe. “It never sleeps and, yes, Dan is in a position of power and privy to a lot of intelligence and information. That’s why it’s a slightly unusual situation. We want a quick resolution. It’s better for everybody if that’s the case.”