Newcastle United blow as Manchester United close in on behind-the-scenes swoop

Newcastle United are set to lose their head of youth recruitment to Premier League rivals Manchester United.

Paul Midgley joined the Magpies in December 2022 following a brief seven-month spell as Manchester City’s Northern UK youth scouting manager.

Prior to that, Midgley spent two years as head of national academy recruitment at Leeds United and another two years in charge of lead recruitment at Sunderland’s Academy of Light.

Midgley has overseen an influx of young talent in recent years as Newcastle looks to bring its academy up to a top level standard. It was recently announced that the club are planning a £1million revamp of the academy base.

Trevan Sanusi is the only youth signing made during Midgley’s tenure that has gone on to make his competitive first-team debut after appearing as a substitute in the 3-1 FA Cup third round win over Bromley in January 2025.

Newcastle saw off competition from a number of clubs to sign the 18-year-old winger from Birmingham City in 2023. Sanusi is currently on loan at Ligue 1 side Lorient.

Meanwhile, two other success stories are 18-year-old Leo Shahar and 16-year-old Sam Alabi. The pair joined from Wolverhampton Wanderers and Oldham Athletic, respectively, in 2023 and were on the bench for the 1-0 Boxing Day defeat away to Man United.

Newcastle United set to lose head of recruitment to Manchester United

But after three years, Midgley is set to depart his role and take up a similar position with Man United, according to the Daily Mail.

The Red Devils have been looking to replace Luke Fedorenko, who is on gardening leave as he prepares to take up a new job with an agency. Midgley worked with director of football Jason Wilcox and new academy chief Stephen Torpey at Man City.

It’s claimed Midgley beat over 10 candidates to land the role, though he may have to wait before officially starting with Newcastle entitled to a compensation package.

But remember the last time Manchester United tried to do business with Newcastle United

And Newcastle could show some resistance, much like they did with Dan Ashworth last year. Ashworth was placed on gardening leave in February but it wasn’t until the end of June when the two clubs agreed a compensation package of £4.1million.

After that lengthy pursuit, Ashworth lasted less than six months at Old Trafford.

Speaking about Ashworth’s exit, co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe said: "I don't want to go into the details of it because I don't think it serves much purpose. At the end of the day, it was chemistry. Maybe a bit more than chemistry, but let's just say chemistry and it didn't work. Just chemistry.

"I know it's an unpopular decision and it's seen as an error, and it was an error, but slightly in our defence, we did recognise it as something that would not work and therefore we decided we would make a change. What would have been far easier because of the scrutiny that we knew we would get in the media would have been to live with it, but I wasn't prepared to live with it."