Dan Ashworth played a role in signing every player at Man Utd this summer except one

Dan Ashworth reported played a role in every Manchester United signing during the summer transfer window, except one.

On Sunday, the shock departure of Ashworth, who only moved to Old Trafford to become sporting director this summer, was confirmed by the club.

A statement from United read: "Dan Ashworth will be leaving his role as Sporting Director of Manchester United by mutual agreement.

"We would like to thank Dan for his work and support during a transitional period for the club and wish him well for the future."

During his time at the club, Ashworth played a part in bringing in the likes of Joshua Zirkzee, Leny Yoro, Manuel Ugarte, Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui.

However, it has now been claimed that Ashworth played a role in every single signing apart from one, the decision to sign De Ligt from Bayern Munich.

As reported by ESPN, aside from De Ligt, every summer transfer was driven by the recruitment team which was led by Ashworth.

It has been suggested that the driving force behind De Ligt's transfer was Erik ten Hag.

The report stated: "Aside from Matthijs de Ligt, the Netherlands international centre-back signed from Bayern Munich in a combined £50.5m deal with Mazraoui, every summer signing was driven by the recruitment department headed up by Ashworth.

"Ten Hag wanted De Ligt and, despite believing the squad was already well stocked with centre-backs, Ashworth sanctioned the move in order to show faith in the manager following his retention in the role weeks earlier."

Matthijs de Ligt joined Manchester United this summer. Image: Getty

On Saturday evening, United suffered their second defeat of the Ruben Amorim era after they fell to a 3-2 defeat against Nottingham Forest at Old Trafford.

Speaking after the match, Amorim said: "We already knew it will be a long journey. But we want to win because this is a massive club and you feel it. When you lose one game, it is really hard for everybody and I can understand that. I can feel it in the stadium after the first goal.

"We understand the context, but we have to keep in the same way, doing the same things. The same words that I had after Everton, I have today. Continue to focus on the performance. We need to improve a lot of aspects of the game and continue to do things in training."

United will be back in action on Thursday when they take on Viktoria Plzen in the UEFA Europa League.