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In the murky world of big ­business, corporate espionage has always been a weapon used by the unscrupulous to make sure they stay ahead of rivals, writes Steve Bates of the Sunday People .

But Manchester City’s shocking ­discovery that their worldwide scouting database could have been hacked by an employee of a rival Premier League club will rock football to its core.

With new boss Manuel Pellegrini set to take charge , City believe their online Scout7 performance analysis system – ­holding detailed scouting reports of every player they have targeted at home and around the globe – has been infiltrated.

An investigation is now under way to uncover the full ­extent of the ­security breach at the Etihad Stadium , how it happened – and who the culprits are.

I understand City have brought in computer espionage experts to examine any ­possible trails.

(Image: MCFC.co.uk)

But it is already clear the dirty tricks discovery could have ­serious repercussions for the Premier League over what ­appears to be an astonishing breach of professional ethics.

City sporting director and former Barcelona official Txiki Begiristain, who is co-ordinating the club’s summer transfer strategy, is known to be highly disturbed by the breach and is being kept informed.

So, too, is chief executive Ferran Soriano – who was also at the Nou Camp – but it’s not thought Pellegrini, ­unveiled as Roberto Mancini’s successor as manager on Friday, is aware of the investigation as yet.

The club recently completed the rapid signings of Shakhtar Donetsk’s Brazilian midfielder Fernandinho for £30million and Seville winger Jesus Navas in a deal that could be worth up to £24m.

Although not confirmed, it is thought those transfers may have been pushed through quickly after the club discovered the possible security breach last month.

With Premier League football a ­multi-billion pound business, clubs take their pursuit of new players seriously.

They like to guard against having their targets widely known by rivals, and the element of surprise in capturing a young star who could have a future value running into millions is seen as a key area.

(Image: Mike Hewitt - FIFA)

And with player values rocketing globally, slick scouting operations are seen as vital to the on and off-pitch ­success of clubs who have placed a major importance on scouting and player recruitment.

Like City, many leading clubs at home and abroad use the acclaimed Scout7, described as offering “industry leading professional football solutions”.

Scout7’s website says their systems serve as many as “75 per cent of English Premier league clubs and more than 50 per cent of clubs in the top leagues of France, Germany, Netherlands and Spain”.

They also say: “Our Next Generation systems continue to deliver short, ­medium and long-term solutions for player scouting, recruitment and ­information management which ­provides an intelligent framework for a successful blend of subjective scouting assessment, objective data and video analysis.”

Although there is no suggestion the Scout7 operating system is in any way at fault, it is believed confidential ­professional and personal details of all City’s potential transfer targets may have been accessed by individuals ­working for a rival club.

That could have compromised ­possible deals and, at the very least, will have alerted others to players – both young and already established – that are on City’s scouting radar.

Although City were unwilling to ­comment until their investigations are complete, a Premier League chief scout told Sunday People Sport last night: “The scouting industry as a whole is a fairly small one.

“That means of course that clubs do sometimes know which players are being checked out and by which clubs.

“Football is now big business and the sums that change hands for players are getting bigger. So if you were to have concrete information on which players one of your rivals is looking at you could, theoretically, register your own interest in those players, too.

“When it comes to compiling reports on players there is a whole different level of information that goes into a dossier on a player and many clubs around Europe use the same system.

“It can range from the obvious about their technical and football ability but also to more sensitive detail about ­financial aspects of any possible deal or personal information about the background and character of a player.

“Having someone else – especially a rival – access that information and see which players you are looking at, which players you may buy and which ones are being monitored over a defined period would be seen as catastrophic.”

That is City’s view – and it is why the investigation is taking a high priority, with Pellegrini due for more talks with ­Begiristain and Soriano over more ­transfer business when he arrives in Manchester on June 24 to officially take charge.