With Dan Ashworth now firmly in the sporting director role at Old Trafford, he brings with him a wealth of experience in the transfer market.
At previous clubs Newcastle and Brighton, Ashworth made some key decisions around transfer targets which have been extremely beneficial to the clubs, but also seen the players progress further into bigger stars in some cases.
While at Brighton, Ashworth brought in Moises Caicedo, Alexis Mac Allister, Evan Ferguson and Kaoru Mitoma, with Caicedo now at Chelsea and Mac Allister now at Liverpool.
As for Newcastle, Ashworth was the man behind Sven Botman, Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon joining the club.
Before Ashworth moved to United, the Magpies were scouting a number of players, with the sporting director overseeing their reports.
As such, Manchester Evening News has announced five of these talents we many now see United make moves on, with some already on United’s radar.
Firstly we have Crystal Palace’s Adam Wharton. Whilst only having been at Palace for three months, the midfielder has shone in defensive midfield, making 16 appearances, including an impressive showing against Manchester United.
However, Ashworth was one of 30 scouts who had looked into the midfielder whilst he was still at Blackburn Rovers, having attended a game to watch him play Coventry City.
Next comes Goncalo Inacio, the pride of Sporting Lisbon. The centre-back has had a tremendous season having established himself as a starting defender helping the team to win this year’s Liga Portugal.
Inacio featured in Newcastle’s plans to improve the back line alongside Botman after the Magpies crashed out of the Champions League. Now it’s reported that Liverpool and Real Madrid are battling for the €60 million defender.
We then have Ousmane Diomande, Inacio’s teammate at Sporting Lisbon who is currently being watched by Chelsea and Arsenal as well as Newcastle.
With a release clause of €80 million at the age of 20, it’s clear that the Portuguese club believe the defender has heaps of potential that’s yet to be seen, and he could fit in with United’s profile well this summer.
Atalanta’s Ederson is another name on the list, with Atalanta having won the Europa League, a number of clubs are all looking at the 25-year-old midfielder.
Ashworth had the Brazilian on his radar at Newcastle as a potential replacement for Bruno Guimaraes, with Ederson playing as a very aggressive box-to-box midfielder. This style of play could work exceptionally well in Erik ten Hag’s plans, bringing a lot of technical ability to the squad.
Finally we have Mario Dorgeles. Dorgeles is probably the least known of the five, playing in Denmark for Nordsjaelland. Ashworth had the highly-rated 19-year-old lined up for a Newcastle move previously, however Chelsea and Arsenal were both circling for his signature.
Despite his age, the Ivory Coast Under-23 international has made 52 appearances for the Danish club, impressing in the Europa Conference League.
Apart from Wharton, who United have already announced interest in, it’s unclear whether Ashworth will be placing these players on the Red Devils’ scouting list, however his work with prior clubs is definitely an exciting prospect at Old Trafford.
