Manchester United are willing to bring Dan Ashworth to Old Trafford and pay a record sum for the director.
Ashworth recently took a landscaping licence through Newcastle United and will reportedly not find a £21m compensation easy to pay.
Although the 52-year-old is one of the most productive managers in world football, he has had some notable setbacks in the transfer market.
We’ve looked at some of the worst signings he oversaw in his time at West Bromwich Albion, Brighton and Newcastle.
Note: We have not included Sandro Tonali’s move as an internal investigation reportedly found it would have been up to Newcastle to know about his gambling addiction.
Zuiverloon was a key component of the Dutch side that won the European Under-21 Championship in 2007 and moved to England a year later, joining newly-promoted West Bromwich Albion on a £3. 2m contract.
He inspired at the start of his career at West Brom, but things temporarily deteriorated and he made a series of calamitous mistakes when they ended up at the back of the Premier League.
The right-back enjoyed a failed loan spell at Ipswich Town in the early part of the 2010/11 season and was released via the Baggies a few months later.
After scoring 18 in Ligue 2 in the 2008/09 season, Reid left Rotherham United and signed for West Brom on a £300,000 contract.
But the move to the Championship proved to be a step forward for the striker as well, who failed to score a goal in seven appearances for the club.
The 35-year-old, who now plays for Weston-super-Mare, spent loan at Peterborough United and Walsall before joining Oldham Athletic in January 2011.
Tchoyi arrived at West Brom on the same day as Peter Odenwingie, the two men having contrasting fortunes at the Hawthorns.
The former Cameroonian, who joined the club from Red Bull Salzburg on a £2. 5m contract in 2010, has suffered from a lack of consistency.
He showed a glimpse of his quality by scoring a second-half hat-trick in a 3-3 draw against Newcastle United on the final day of the 2010/11 campaign.
But the winger scored a total of eight goals and one goal per handball in 47 appearances for the Baggies, and was released at the end of the 2011/12 season.
– West Bromwich Albion (@WBA) May 22, 2023
Clarke, Ashworth’s first signing at Brighton, joined the club from Portsmouth on a £3. 5m contract in the summer of 2019.
He spent the next two seasons on loan at Derby County and then enjoyed a loan spell at West Bromwich Albion in 2021/22.
The centre-back joined Middlesbrough on a £2. 25m contract in 2022, having failed to form a single first-team for the Seagulls.
Brighton bolstered their midfield characteristics and signed Mooy on a season-long loan deal with Huddersfield Town in 2019.
“We knew he was a really smart player, we really liked him and we followed him for a while,” Ashworth said. “Huddersfield had been relegated, so they took him off their wage bill and Aaron was a proven player in the Premier League. “
The former Australian foreigner made an impressive start to his loan spell and Brighton activated the £5m purchase option in January 2020.
But it failed to mirror the way it made the club hire him permanently and replace him via Adam Lallana a few months later.
The midfielder only made 32 appearances for the Seagulls before joining China’s Shanghai SIPG Super League in August 2020.
The Brighton Australian with a ?memorable strike pic. twitter. com/YsXU4hTMJ0
– OBJECTIVE (@goal) July 19, 2020
Brighton reportedly took advantage of the Wolfsburg, Rome, Parma and Nice festival to sign Zeqiri from Swiss Super League club Lausanne in 2020.
But the striker only made thirteen appearances for the Seagulls, scoring his goal in a 2-0 Carabao Cup win over Cardiff City in August 2021.
He was then loaned out to FC Augsburg and FC Basel before joining Belgian side Genk on a £2. 4m contract in the summer of 2023.
Karbowinik won the Polish league in his first season at Legia Warsaw and his performances have reportedly attracted Real Madrid, Barcelona, Tottenham, Napoli, Dynamo Moscow, Sevilla, PSV Eindhoven, Real Betis and Celtic.
Brighton won the race to sign him in October 2020 after paying a £3. 5m transfer fee for the 19-year-old.
“Michal is an exciting young player, who we are delighted to welcome to the club,” said Ashworth. “He’s flexible in terms of position; He can play on the right or left side, as a full-back or full-back and in midfield. .
The flexible defender has lived up to his prospects and his only two appearances for Brighton have come in domestic cup competitions.
He was on loan to Olympiacos and Fortuna Düsseldorf before being sold to Hertha Berlin at a slight loss in 2023.
Kozlowski rose through the ranks of Polish club Pogon Szczecin and made history at Euro 2020, becoming the youngest player to play in a European Championship.
Liverpool, Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona and Ajax were among the clubs linked to the Poland international. He joined Brighton on an £8m contract in January 2022.
“He’s a brilliant young man and we’re very happy to have closed the signing of Kacper, who made a lot of progress in his career early on,” Ashworth said.
The 20-year-old was loaned directly to Belgian club Royale Union St-Gilloise and has spent the last two seasons on loan at Vitesse Arnhem, who have recently been in the Eredivisie relegation zone.
When he is born, “Where’s the love?” through the Black Eyed Peas’ number one charts. Feeling old yet?pic. twitter. com/iTcreFQqx7
– COPA90 (@Copa90) June 19, 2021
It is true that Newcastle United loaned Hall to Aston Villa before Ashworth took over at St. John’s. John’s. James’ Park in June 2022.
But Ashworth punished the permanent move, paying Villa a £15m transfer fee and giving the left-back a £100,000-per-week contract.
Since then, he has battled a number of injury problems and has made 26 appearances in all competitions over the past two seasons.
The 28-year-old is also in the pecking order with Dan Burn, Tino Livramento and Lewis Hall and faces a dubious long-term career at the club.
Hall left Chelsea and joined Newcastle on a season-long loan in 2023. The deal included a legal liability of acquisition of £28 million, with £7 million in add-ons.
Ashworth is reportedly playing a key role in the deal and has benefited from his pre-existing relationship with Chelsea’s global head of transfers and transfers.
While the 19-year-old is a bright prospect, it’s a lot of money for a player who has only made 12 appearances for Chelsea’s first team.
The left-back has struggled to identify alongside Eddie Howe, making four starts and seven additional appearances as a replacement in 2023/24.
READ MORE: Dan Ashworth: Ranking of each and every Man Utd manager’s upcoming permanent signings made for Newcastle