Sir Jim Ratcliffe says what he really thinks about Newcastle United after Man Utd agree deal

Ashworth has been on gardening leave from his sporting director position at Newcastle since February following an approach from Manchester United. The two clubs are yet to settle on a compensation fee for the 53-year-old, whose notice period in his contract at St James’ Park runs until the end of 2025.

Ratcliffe previously aimed a thinly veiled dig at Newcastle back in February, suggesting it was ‘completely absurd’ for Ashworth to remain on gardening leave for so long. And in a fresh interview with Bloomberg, the Manchester United minority owner has hit out at The Magpies once again.

"One of the biggest issues in football, which I have to say I wasn't fully prepared for, was the gardening leave issue, which is not something that I bump into in my business world," Ratcliffe said. "I see absolutely no point in the gardening leave thing that they have in football.

“It just makes it difficult to change things with pace because Omar [Berrada] is on six months, Dan Ashworth is on one-and-a-half years.

"We had a very sensible conversation with Southampton about Jason Wilcox. We managed to find a solution to that.

“Newcastle are just being very difficult and very awkward about Dan. Until you get the people in, it's quite difficult to drive the change and it's just frustrating."

Manchester United will be looking to improve their squad following an eighth place finish during the 2023-24 campaign, the club’s lowest ever in the Premier League.

But Ratcliffe hinted that the summer transfer window could prove difficult without the likes of Ashworth in place.

"I'm not confident that we will solve all the problems in the first transfer window,” he added. “It will take time.

“Also, bear in mind, Omar, Dan and Jason, who are the key pillars of the sports side are not all in place. We've only got Jason in place so we're a bit handicapped in that sense.

"I think we will do a fairly good job but it's not going to answer all the problems this first season. We will take two or three summer windows to get to a better place.”