Premier League rivals aren't surprised Manchester City are acting quickly over suspicions their scouting database has been hacked.

It was revealed on Sunday that City had called in computer experts over fears their scouting software had been compromised.

A Premier League chief scout told the Sunday People: "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."