Dan Ashworth’s influence in Erik ten Hag contract change is clear, Man United listened

Dan Ashworth appeared to have a clear influence on Erik ten Hag’s new deal at Manchester United.

It was confirmed on Thursday morning that Ten Hag would remain at the club until the summer of 2026.

However, various reports have also explained that United triggered the one-year extension in the Dutchman’s existing contract.

This means that he will keep his transfer veto and title as first-team manager, which were both aspects that INEOS seemed like they wanted to change.

After a lengthy negotiation process between United and Newcastle, 53-year-old Dan Ashworth has officially been appointed as the Reds’ sporting director.

Ashworth, a specialist in player transfers, will oversee all football-related matters at Old Trafford. There had been considerable discussion about how this will impact Ten Hag’s role in recruitment moving forward.

It was assumed that the manager would need to relinquish his transfer veto and have almost zero control over recruitment.

However, Ashworth would clearly oppose this. He has previously explained that if the manager is not satisfied with the signings, resources are wasted.

The 53-year-old emphasises the importance of evaluating various options when seeking to enhance the squad rather than leaving the manager out of the equation.

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“If I sign a player that Graham [Potter] doesn’t like or want, it’s a drastic waste of resources,” he said in 2020 when he was in charge at Brighton.

“Ultimately, Graham has got to pick 11 players that he thinks will give him the best chance of winning.

“If he doesn’t rate the attributes in a player that I do, then we are going to invest a transfer fee, salary and agent’s fee for a player that Graham doesn’t rate or want and who is unlikely to play.

“So how do we work here? Well, we agree the areas of the pitch that Graham wants to improve. Our first port of call is ‘what have we already got in the system?’ There have been times when Graham has said: ‘I’d rather work with what we’ve got and make them better than sign a player for the sake of it.’

“But if we haven’t got that position in the U23s or out on loan, then we need to go into the market.”

It seems clear that Ashworth would’ve had a big influence in terms of the situation with Ten Hag, considering many reliable reports claimed that the Dutchman was close to agreeing to a new deal on different terms.

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