Newcastle United have brought in Paul Mitchell as the club’s new sporting director

Newcastle United have brought in Paul Mitchell as the club’s new sporting director after the Magpies reached a settlement with Manchester United to release Dan Ashworth from gardening leave

Newcastle United have appointed Paul Mitchell as the club’s new sporting director.

Newcastle agreed a compensation package with Manchester United to release Dan Ashworth from gardening leave a few days ago and the Magpies have now announced Mitchell as the 53-year-old’s successor.

Mitchell most recently worked as a sporting director at AS Monaco following a spell as technical director at Red Bull’s global football division. Mitchell has also held leading recruitment roles at Spurs, Southampton and RB Leipzig.

It is rather telling that Newcastle have pointed to that ‘recruitment success’ in their announcement, whether it was a ‘unique and progressive’ strategy at Southampton, or how Mitchell combined ‘traditional scouting with data-driven analysis’ at RB Leipzig. Now, following four months without a sporting director, Newcastle will be able to tap into that expertise during a crucial summer window.