Manchester United's chief African scout, Tom Vernon, already boasts two players on the books of Premiership rivals Fulham.

Just 30, Vernon has been in Ghana for nearly ten years and started from scratch his own football academy called Right To Dream, which not only polishes the best young players he can find, but educates them, too, says The Times.

He has two boys on Fulham's books and a number of others at universities in America.

Vernon's vision, now in partnership with United, is that the boys who do not make it as professional footballers - who are the vast majority - will leave equipped to make it in life elsewhere.