Exclusive: Newcastle look at Premier League director of football as possible replacement for Dan Ashworth

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HITC Football understands that Newcastle United have been impressed with the work of Brentford’s director of football Phil Giles. 

Newcastle are doing their due diligence on new potential sporting directors should they lose Dan Ashworth to Manchester United in the coming months.

Sources have confirmed to HITC Football that Newcastle are aware of the interest from Old Trafford in Ashworth, with Sir Dave Brailsford – who is set to become a leading figure in the new footballing department at Manchester United – putting forward a very strong case for him to come into the club.

Manchester United want Ashworth

Man United are looking to bring in a raft of new appointments following Jim Ratcliffe’s agreement to purchase a quarter of the club from the Glazer family and Brailsford has been undergoing a strategic review of the club and part of those includes recommendations for key roles – of which Ashworth is one of them.

Ashworth is regarded as one of the best senior operatives in English football and from his work with Brighton and the Football Association, to Newcastle – he is seen as someone who could get to grips with a club like United.

Knowing Ashworth’s standing in the game, the interest from the Red Devils has not come as a shock to those in charge at Newcastle and they are making sure they are not caught off guard by losing a key member of their hierarchy.

Giles could head home to Newcastle

With that in mind options are being looked at and HITC Football understands that Giles is someone they are taken a keen interest in, indeed they were aware of Giles even before Ashworth took charge.

Giles is hugely respected around Europe for the work he has done at Brentford, but there is also the knowledge that Giles is Newcastle born and bred and grew up a huge fan of the club.

He has been with Brentford for almost ten years and has played a massive part in their recent successes with analytics playing a key role, and it is believed that is an area Newcastle want to improve on.