United made great effort to prise Ashworth away from Newcastle but a decision was made for him to depart after a summer of underwhelming recruitment and amid a difficult relationship with the minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
Ashworth’s exit came after the sacking of Erik ten Hag and his staff in October, which cost United £10.4m.
Manchester United have revealed they paid £4.1m to Dan Ashworth when he left after only five months at Old Trafford.
It cost the club about £3m in compensation last summer to acquire the sporting director from Newcastle but they parted ways in December.
