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Manchester United have told Newcastle United that analyst Luke Dickson must first complete a period of gardening leave before joining them

Manchester United sporting director Dan Ashworth has held up the arrival of Luke Dickson at Newcastle United, with the Magpies looking to employ the 28-year-old as a senior analyst, according to the Daily Mail.

Dickson has spent five years at the Old Trafford club as their lead academy analyst, and he informed the Red Devils earlier this year that he wanted to join the Magpies after he was offered a position in manager Eddie Howe’s first-team set-up.

However, Man United have told Newcastle that he must first complete a period of gardening leave, and he will be unable to join them until November.

The Magpies see the move as a tit-for-tat response to Ashworth’s own attempts to leave the St James’ Park back in February, with Newcastle placing him on gardening leave and only allowing him to join Man United in June after a compensation package was agreed.

Dickson was born and bred in North East England and is a boyhood Newcastle fan, and he is now expected to link up with the Toons next month as he would have finished seeing out a contractual period of gardening leave by then.

Relations between Man United and the Magpies were fractured following the drawn-out battle to get Ashworth to move to the Old Trafford club, and it appears things have not improved since then.

Newcastle ended up finishing a spot above the Red Devils in the Premier League table last campaign, but they were pipped to the last European spot as Man United won the FA Cup and automatically qualified for the Europa League as a result.

Both clubs have started 2024-25 disappointingly, and Howe will hope the arrival of his senior analyst next month can prove to be a much-needed boost for his side.

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