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Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley is set to step down from leading his retail empire and hand the reins to his prospective son-in-law, according to reports.

The tycoon is expected to reveal plans to step back from his role as chief executive of Frasers Group to become deputy chairman on Thursday, the Telegraph has reported.

It said he will be replaced in the top job by 31-year-old Michael Murray, who is engaged to Ashley's daughter Anna.  

Murray is currently 'head of elevation' at the retail group, which also owns House of Fraser and Flannels, and has been tasked with modernising the business and creating a more upmarket image.

The Doncaster-born son of a property developer and former nightclub promoter first started helping Ashley with personal property deals, a few years after he met the businessman's daughter Anna on holiday in 2011.

Now, he is widely seen as Ashley's right hand man and is in charge of revamping Sports Direct stores as well as expanding Flannels.

Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley and his wife Linda. Ashley is now set to step down as chief executive of his retail empire

Michael Murray (right), who is dating Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley's daughter Anna. He is set to replace Ashley as chief of Frasers

Murray met Anna on holiday in Majorca in 2011 and the couple now live together in a £10.7 million mansion in Belgravia. 

The 31-year-old isn't on the payroll of Frasers or its board of directors but has collected more than £15 million in fees over the last four years while acting as a consultant for the firm. 

He was originally hired in 2016 to oversee the company's real estate activities before his promotion to 'head of elevation'. 

Now, he is now increasingly influential across the group, despite opposition from shareholders.

Explaining how he earns his money, Murray told the Financial Times: 'The board appoints an independent valuation team to value the properties and I get 25 per cent, after all the costs, of the value they deem I've created for the business.' 

The system allows him to pocket millions every year and is in stark contrast to the fixed salaries of £150,000 a year paid to Frasers' other executive directors. 

In 2020, it was revealed that Murray's firm, MM Prop Consultancy, received £4.3m, after getting £5.3m the year before and £5.2m in the year to April 2018. 

Michael Murray and Anna Ashley dressed to celebrate Halloween (left); Murray is the 'head of elevation' at the Sports Direct business belonging to Anna's father Mike Ashley (right)

He also invoiced £300,000 in 2017 for 'property planning & development costs'. 

Murray told the Guardian that the set-up is 'a very fair deal for Sports Direct'.

He said: 'It is up to the non-executives what I get paid. I don't take a salary and there are no guarantees. I get paid based on property performance and everything else is technically thrown in.

'I oversee the future direction of the business and how stores look and what brands we should and shouldn't be stocking.' 

Murray is said to be extremely close to Ashley, with one source saying he has the Newcastle United owner's ear and that the pair 'thrash out business deals over drinks or dinner or on family holidays away from the wider management team.'

The 31-year-old alluded to their partnership in an interview last year: 'I'm thinking about the next 10 to 20 years. Me and Mike are working like a partnership. He looks after the back end – systems, logistics – I look after customer-facing side and the image of the business.'

His impending promotion suggests that Ashley is keen for him to have an even greater role - though reports suggest that the famously mercurial retail boss could still change his plans. 

Ashley has been one of the high street's most colourful characters since founding Sports Direct in 1982.

He has rapidly grown his retail operation in recent years, snapping up a number of distressed British brands including Evans Cycles, Jack Wills and Game.

The group is now worth around £3 billion and operates almost 1,000 shops. 

Ashley was previously executive deputy chairman of the retail group - which changed its name from Sports Direct International to Frasers Group last year - until 2016, when long-serving chief executive Dave Forsey resigned.

Ashley's plan to step down comes as he continues to unsuccessfully search for a buyer for Newcastle Football Club. 

Frasers Group will reveal its latest full-year trading figures on Thursday and is expected to highlight a recovery in sales following the reopening of high street stores in April. 

The company owns a string of well-known brands, including Sports Direct, House of Fraser, Flannels, GAME, Jack Wills, Sofa.com, Evans Cycles, USC, and Everlast. 

It purchased ailing House of Fraser in 2018, after the department store chain collapsed into administration.  The discount sports retailer paid £90million in cash to buy the high street group, which included all of its UK stores, the branding and all of its stock.

At least 14 of House of Fraser's original 59 stores have closed since the department store chain was bought out of administration by Frasers Group, and Mr Ashley has previously warned that more closures could be on the cards.

Frasers Group also launched a bid to take over the newly collapsed Debenhams, but the coup failed. 

Back in January, Debenhams' brand and intellectual property were snapped up by online-based fashion retailer Boohoo, but its stores were axed along with the loss of thousands of jobs.