Brighton transfer news: Albion braced for painful exit as Newcastle tempt key man with lucrative package

Ashworth, 50, is highly regarded at Brighton and has helped transform and implement a more successful transfer policy for the Seagulls.

Tariq Lamptey, Marc Cucurella, Neal Maupay, Adam Webster and Joel Veltman have all arrived under Ashworth’s watch and have impressed in the Premier League.

Ashworth was also said to be key in bringing in head coach Graham Potter from Swansea and also Adam Lallana on free transfer from Liverpool.

The former Football Association’s director of elite development has been given permission by Brighton to speak with Newcastle as the Geordies search for a director of football.

The Magpies recently appointed Nicky Hammond as a temporary consultant while the club’s new Saudi-led ownership group seek to appoint a director of football.

It’s an intriguing and potentially very lucrative time for Ashworth who - if offered the role - would be tasked with overseeing the transformation of the richest club in world football.

With the January transfer window fast approaching, it’s a crunch time for Newcastle and Brighton and both clubs will look for a speedy solution.

Former England defender Rio Ferdinand know Ashworth from his days with the international set-up and is a huge admirer of his work. Ferdinand previously thought Spurs should have gone for the Brighton man before appointing Fabio Paratici as their director.

“If I was Spurs, I would have gone and got Dan Ashworth. Brighton fans will want to kill me,” said Ferdinand in August.

“That guy, meticulous, what he does with a shoe-string budget at Brighton, what he has done with England and all the young players coming through. Setting the blueprint there.

“Dan Ashworth, I would put him up there. It’s fashionable to go foreign now. To go and get foreign directors of football or technical directors when we have got a good few of them sitting here. It’s crazy,” Ferdinand said.