Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe has been left to field calls from agents and look at players’ contracts in the absence of Dan Ashworth, according to The Athletic.
Ashworth has been placed on gardening leave since he made it clear to Newcastle that he would like to move to Manchester United as their new sporting director.
Newcastle have stepped up on their efforts to bring in a replacement with Odgers Berndtson, the recruitment firm, reaching out to potential candidates.
However, for the moment, Newcastle are without a sporting director and the load has increased on manager Howe.
The Newcastle boss has taken on some of the responsibilities that Ashworth had and has been fielding calls from agents.
Howe has also been taking a look at player contracts, which is a major responsibility of a sporting director.
He also spent much of his time in Dubai, during Newcastle’s warm weather camp, whittling down a short list of summer transfer targets.
Newcastle are hoping to appoint a new sporting director before the summer transfer window.
