Report: Newcastle add a new name to the list for sporting director role as search enters final stages

It was recently reported that Newcastle United had narrowed down their search for Dan Ashworth's replacement to three candidates with final interviews set to take place soon.

However, now, The Daily Mail is reporting that the Magpies are keen on Crystal Palace's Dougie Freedman for the role.

Interestingly, Newcastle would face competition for Freedman from Manchester United despite the inevitable capture of Dan Ashworth.

Freedman would actually be an amazing contender for Newcastle when you look at the players he's been responsible for bringing and developing at Crystal Palace.

Palace have developed some excellent young talent

While it's easy to name the likes of Marc Guehi, Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise as three examples of players Freedman has been responsible for at Palace, it's also worth remembering that the Eagles beat Newcastle to the signing of two young prospects recently.

Matheus Franca and Adam Wharton were both being looked at by Newcastle and both opted to move to Crystal Palace. That must have been down to the work of Dougie Freedman which means he's certainly got something that Dan Ashworth didn't have.

With all due respect to Crystal Palace, on face value, a young, ambitious player would opt for Newcastle, a club on the rise over mid-table Crystal Palace, unless they had someone who could convince them where they belong.

Seriously though, what was the point of Dan Ashworth?

If Newcastle had that power of persuasion that Dougie Freedman clearly possesses, there's no telling who we could end up with at St James' Park.

It really is making us question what Dan Ashworth really did. If he couldn't convince young players to join Newcastle over Crystal Palace, what were we even paying him for? Again, no disrespect intended to Palace.

Hopefully, the club completes its recruitment process in time to have Ashworth's replacement in place for the summer transfer window opening.