Wigan Athletic boss Steve Bruce has again credited Arsenal rival Arsene Wenger for opening the door to his global scouting plans.

Bruce said: "I was so close to signing Mathieu Flamini for Birmingham. We'd agreed a price with Arsenal and everything.

"But Flamini decided to stay so I asked Arsene Wenger 'Have you got anyone else?' and he mentioned they had a lad on trial from Honduras who might be worth a look at.

"So I took Palacios to Birmingham and signed him but they didn't really take much interest in him. So when I moved to Wigan I brought him with me.

"Getting Palacios has opened up the door to Honduras for us. That's how we got Figueroa.

"Then we got Valencia from Ecuador and now we're looking all over South America."