Manchester City fear their scouting database has been HACKED! The People says 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.

City have called in computer espionage experts to examine any ­possible trails.