Newcastle United’s Rice move hijacked as Premier League rivals reach agreement with ex-Arsenal man

Newcastle United’s plans to strengthen its academy staff have reportedly been hijacked by Premier League rivals Everton.

Football Insider reported last month that Southampton’s head of youth recruitment Dan Rice had ‘handed in his resignation’ to take up a new role with the Magpies after two years with the South Coast outfit.

Former Fulham and Arsenal academy scout Rice joined the Saints as Under-13 to Under-19 recruitment manager in February 2021 before assuming his current position at the start of last season.

Latest reports claim the Toffees have agreed a deal to appoint Rice, and will begin his role at the end of the campaign.

Since joining as the club’s sporting director last summer, Dan Ashworth has gone about restructuring United’s academy in order to boost the quantity - and quality - of local talent coming through.

The Magpies academy scouting set-up has already been bolsted by arrivals of Manchester City duo Paul McLaren and Paul Midgeley and a deal was also agreed to allow West Ham United scout Delroy Ebanks to take over a newly-created role working in the South of England.

Edward Black, who has been Arsenal’s North of England and Scotland Emerging Talent Scout since June last year, has also been recruited as he takes up a lead scouting role.

United are believed to be recruiting scouts to take up positions across several major countries in Europe, as well as Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay and Ecuador.

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