Reading boss Brian McDermott admits he spotted Chelsea ace Eden Hazard as a teenager at Lille six years ago.

McDermott, before becoming manager, was a scout at Reading.

"I would go to three games over the weekend starting on Friday night and one of them on this particular trip was at Lille," he recalled.

"Hazard was just playing his first games in the team. He was still only 16, I think. I hadn't gone there to see him, just to take in the fixture, but he stood out within minutes like the proverbial sore thumb.

"He could just go down the side of people - and on either side - and he had such great, quick feet.

"I earned my living then by wandering in search of players, and I might have asked about him, but no way was he available. I remember discovering Marouane Fellaini when he was still a teenager, too, and being quoted £7million."