Football clubs are employing private investigators to spy on players they want to sign, according to former Scotland boss Craig Levein.
Levein, 56, said PIs were paid to find out everything about prospective signings in a bid to ensure they were the right kinds of characters before signing them.
He said the practice didn’t occur when he starred for Hearts and Scotland in the 80s and 90s but claimed it is now “quite common”.
In recent years several top clubs have broken the £100million barrier in transfer fees to secure top stars, with some of the richest players earning hundreds of thousands of pounds per week.
Levein, who has managed Dundee United, Leicester City and Hearts during his career, told BBC Radio Scotland podcast Sacked In The Morning: “There are so many things that have to align for you to sign a player that is actually very effective for you but, trust me, when you do, it’s a brilliant feeling.
“Getting it right and getting players into the club, improving them and seeing them moving on to do something really good with their career.
“It can go wrong and you try your very best. I mean, there are some clubs who employ private detectives, who go and research and find out everything they can about a player.
“If somebody’s in the casino until three o’clock in the morning most weeks, you’d probably want to know that (before a signing goes through).
“And that’s quite common now.”
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