Man Utd fans in disbelief after seeing how much the club paid Dan Ashworth when he left the club

One of the main talking points from Manchester United's latest financial results has been the eye-watering cost of Dan Ashworth's untimely departure.

Back in December, Ashworth left his role as United's sporting director following a five-month spell.

The 53-year-old, who joined the Premier League club in July after a compensation deal was struck with Newcastle United, agreed to his departure in a meeting with chief executive Omar Berrada on December 7.

Ashworth was in overall charge of football performance, recruitment and operations at Old Trafford and initially, he was seen by many as the ideal man to spearhead the INEOS-led regime following spells at West Brom, Brighton and Newcastle.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe even labelled him as "one of the top sporting directors in the world" after describing him as a "very capable" person who would be a "very good" addition to the hierarchy at Old Trafford.

But after United forked out around £200 million on Joshua Zirkzee, Matthijs De Ligt, Noussair MazraouI, Leny Yoro and Manuel Ugarte last summer, the former FA director of elite development struggled to transition into the high-profile role.

More than three months later and United have confirmed in their quarterly accounts that hiring Ashworth and parting ways with him cost a total of £4.1 million, which includes the compensation paid to Newcastle and the sum he received on his departure.

In regards to second quarter of the 2024/25 season, United's revenues dropped to £198.7 million for the final three months of 2024, which is down from £225.8 million for the same period 12 months previously.

Dan Ashworth started his role as Manchester United sporting director on July 1. Image credit: Getty

A previous report from The Athletic detailed which candidates Ashworth had in mind to replace Erik ten Hag, who was sacked in October.

In short, Ratcliffe wanted to hear ideas from Ashworth, the man renowned for his expertise at building structures, and he suggested a number of names, including Marco Silva, Thomas Frank and Graham Potter.

Ratcliffe is said to have wanted someone with charisma that was capable of 'shouldering the enormous responsibility and scrutiny' that comes with being the manager of Manchester United.

Ashworth, meanwhile, had little input on selecting Ruben Amorim.

Instead, chief executive officer Omar Berrada was the driving force behind getting Amorim from Sporting and engaged in face-to-face talks with their president Frederico Varandas.

According to the report, Ratcliffe felt Ashworth should have been much more assertive in his search for a new head coach and 'should have looked beyond those people he already knew', which was said to include Gareth Southgate.

Ratcliffe was also seemingly unimpressed and 'raised eyebrows' at Ashworth taking a holiday on Amorim's second day at Carrington.