Dan Ashworth to argue he was sacked by Newcastle United in bid to force Man United move | OneFootball

The yearly summer drama at Manchester United came early this year and it doesn’t even involve a player this time.

Just days after it emerged that Dan Ashworth was found liaising with Omar Berrada before he was given permission to speak with Man United, a twist in the tale has arrived.

The Telegraph reports that Ashworth will now arrive at the arbitration talks with a new angle, saying that he isn’t even on gardening leave.

Instead, he’ll argue that Newcastle have already sacked him as, in from his understanding of the situation, he was not asked to formally write his letter of resignation.

In legalese, that pretty much means that since Newcastle sacked Ashworth, they can’t ask for compensation for an employee who’s no longer on their books.

Had Ashworth asked to step down, as was reported earlier, then Newcastle would be within their rights to place him on gardening leave and demand compensation, even of his whole contract.

Newcastle are reported to be “astounded” at Ashworth’s effort of getting out of his contract that way and are reportedly determined to fight it during the hearing.

However, there might be more to this matter than in the public eye as, if Ashworth’s leaked email were legit and he was in contact with United before he was even put on gardening leave, Newcastle would have a watertight case of tapping up.

Still, the report states that Newcastle will first attempt to sit down with United and try to hash out an increased compensation.

INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe might feel they have a strong case as even after emails emerged, Newcastle’s first priority is to get more money for Ashworth.

Meanwhile, the executive himself remains on gardening leave and the hearing is supposedly private so this might just be the case of two sides wanting to win the war of optics.

Ultimately, it is a matter of when, and not if Ashworth joins United but Sir Jim would take solace from the fact that, for once, United are not being held to ransom in the market, even if the person involved is not a player.

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