Incoming Manchester United chief Dan Ashworth has pulled off some impressive coups at Brighton and Newcastle United - in among some less-than-stellar signings
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Dan Ashworth's links to Manchester United will inevitably have their fans keenly researching what they might be able to expect from the man who will be handed Sir Jim Ratcliffe's wallet and tasked with going out to find quality signings.
The good news for them is that there are a lot more hits than misses to be found on Ashworth's track record at Brighton and Hove Albion and at his current club, Newcastle United.
With honourable mentions to Leandro Trossard, Adam Lallana, Marc Cucurella and Lewis Hall in the 'hit' category, here are five highlights and five lowlights of Ashworth's Premier League transfer business to date.
Dan Ashworth's biggest transfer hits and misses…
HIT: Joel Veltman (Brighton, summer 2021)
Joel Veltman was a solid signing for Brighton & Hove Albion (Image credit: Steve Bardens/Getty Images)
Even big clubs need to get value for money sometimes, and boy howdy did Ashworth play his cards right on this one.
Then a 29-year-old Dutch international with over 200 Ajax appearance to his name, Brighton took full advantage of a reported £900,000 release clause in Veltman's contract.
The versatile defender has barely been out of the team since, despite Brighton's continually increasing profile and spending power. It's just a lovely bit of business all around.
HIT: Moises Caicedo (Brighton, February 2021)
Brighton got excellent money for Caicedo (Image credit: Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images for Premier League)
And speaking of bargains...Caicedo was a teenage prodigy in his native Ecuador when the Seagulls plucked him for a reported £4m midway through the first full season of Ashworth's tenure at the Amex.
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The youngster had a bit of an adaptation period, making a handful of appearances in his first few months at the club before being sent out on loan to Belgian side Beerschot, but played an increasingly important role upon his return, more than making up the void left by the sale of Yves Bissouma to Tottenham.
Caicedo quickly became the subject of big-money interest from Arsenal, but Brighton held firm despite a touted £70m fee being offered in January 2023, even signing Caicedo up to a new contract to increase his value yet further. That paid off last summer as he was sold to Chelsea for a fee reportedly worth up to 127 Joel Veltmans; that's £115m, to you or I.
HIT: Evan Ferguson (Brighton, February 2021)
Evan Ferguson has come into his own this season (Image credit: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Another canny spot from Ashworth and his recruitment team at a very tender age (he's still just 19 now), Brighton snapped the centre-forward up from League of Ireland side Bohemians after he had made just a handful of senior appearances despite still being a schoolboy.
The potential they saw has been more than borne out already, with Ferguson enjoying a breakthrough campaign last season in which he scored ten goals in 25 appearances in all competitions. A big future still lies ahead for the Irish international.
HIT: Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton, summer 2021)
Kaoru Mitoma was unknown before Brighton (Image credit: Getty Images)
As if to prove a point as to the global span of Ashworth's scouting networks, we move from South America and Ireland to Japan, and the signing of one of the Premier League's most exciting players today.
As with Caicedo, Brighton initially sent Mitoma out on loan to Belgium to take his first steps in European football after prising him away from Kawasaki Frontale for a reported £2.5m fee.
Mitoma would now command a far higher valuation than that, but for the time being Brighton fans are simply enjoying the incredible flair and incision their Japanese international brings to the side. The loss of Soccer AM is particularly keenly felt for the absence of a showboat segment that would feature Mitoma every week.
HIT: Sandro Tonali (Newcastle, summer 2023)
Sandro Tonali was a hit when he started at Newcastle (Image credit: Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images)
A qualified inclusion, of course, with the Italian international's ongoing ten-month ban for betting offences keeping him sidelined since October.
Still, it's hard to blame Ashworth for that: it's not exactly the kind of thing a player or his representatives are likely to volunteer as part of a recruitment process: "Oh, by the way, I've placed a load of bets and I'm just waiting for that shoe to drop, hope that's OK!". His former club, AC Milan, insist they had no idea, either.
That leaves us in a tricky position, but it speaks volumes of just how influential Tonali was in the games he has been able to play for Newcastle that we have ultimately decided to include him anyway. Just 23 years old and with a contract running until 2028, that early promise suggests Newcastle will have a gem on their hands when he is permitted to return to the fray next season.
MISS: Aaron Mooy (Brighton, summer 2019)
Aaron Mooy was excellent at Huddersfield… less so at Brighton (Image credit: Albert Perez/Getty Images)
Onto the misses now, which proved to be considerably more difficult to assemble than the hits - as Mooy's inclusion would suggest.
Brighton were made to work to secure the Australian's signature, with the midfielder keen to do right by Huddersfield Town to the point that he signed a new contract on the very day he left (initially on loan in a move that became permanent a few months later) so as to ensure the newly-relegated Terriers were able to command a better transfer fee.
Mooy's time on the south coast was not so much bad as it was largely forgettable, aside from his involvement in a fabulous goal against Bournemouth that Brighton fans still get fizzy about. He made just 32 appearances for the club before departing after just a year for the Chinese Super League (very much the Saudi Pro League of its day), ensuring that Brighton at least received a hefty return on their investment.
MISS: Matt Clarke (Brighton, summer 2019)
Matt Clarke never worked out at Brighton (Image credit: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
The overwhelming difficulty with selected less-than-successful transfers from Ashworth's list of Brighton signings is that so many of his signings were youngsters that would have been seen as something of a gamble even at the time.
Clarke was a slight exception to that, even if 22 is no real age for a centre-back. His move from Portsmouth was followed by loan spells to the Championship with Derby County (twice) and West Bromwich Albion. He left for a third Championship club, Middlesbrough, in summer 2022, this time permanently. He had not made a single senior appearance for Brighton.
MISS: Andi Zeqiri (Brighton, October 2020)
Andi Zeqiri never made the grade in English football (Image credit: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
It feels a long time ago now with Joao Pedro and Evan Ferguson doing the business up top, but for their first couple of years in the Premier League, Brighton did have a rather notable deficiency in their squad: a quality centre-forward.
Neal Maupay proved to be mostly fine but not exactly sensational with a particularly bizarre knack for missing his most presentable chances, and Brighton had a few false starts in trying to add to him as a squad option. Zeqiri's signing was among those attempts, with the striker coming in from Swiss side Lausanne as a 21-year-old.
He never really made the grade, however, with his nine Premier League outings never lasting more than 45 minutes. He was sent out on loan to Augsburg less than a year after arriving, then returned to Switzerland with Basel the following season. He left on a permanent move to (you guessed it) Belgian side Genk last September.
MISS: Deniz Undav (Brighton, January 2022)
Deniz Undav clearly has something about him… (Image credit: Charlie Crowhurst/Getty Images)
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury: exhibit B. Things didn't work out with Zeqiri, so Brighton tried again, with Ashworth - in one of his final acts in the job - this time turning to a slightly more experienced player who had shown a bit more pedigree.
Brighton gave Undav the mandatory Belgian loan spell despite having actually signed him from Belgium, with Union SG taking the striker back on loan for the rest of the 2021/22 campaign as part of the deal that sold him to the Seagulls. That meant Ashworth had departed for Newcastle by the time Undav made his Brighton debut.
Eight goals in his 30 appearances in 2022/23 looks pretty ho-hum on the surface, but they came in just 921 minutes - a pretty respectable strike rate that he has improved on this season in his ongoing loan spell with German side VfB Stuttgart, where he has 15 goals in 21 outings.
That speaks of the fact that Undav's finishing ability is in no doubt whatsoever, but his inability to put in the required work rate off the ball and some struggles with the physicality of English football made him an uneasy fit for Brighton's very specific style of play.
Miss: Harvey Barnes (Newcastle, summer 2023)
Harvey Barnes hasn't got started in the north east (Image credit: Getty Images)
Again, not an out-and-out dud, but it's hard to overlook that Newcastle paid a lot of money (even by today's standards) when they sanctioned a £38m move for the Leicester winger, given they were already fairly well-stocked in the role.
No real surprise, then, that Barnes struggled for a place in the starting line-up even before suffering a long-term foot injury in September from which he has only just returned.
Steven Chicken has been working as a football writer since 2009, taking in stints with Football365 and the Huddersfield Examiner. Steven still covers Huddersfield Town home and away for his own publication, WeAreTerriers.com. Steven is a two-time nominee for Regional Journalist of the Year at the prestigious British Sports Journalism Awards, making the shortlist in 2020 and 2023.
