Aston Villa boss Gerard Houllier has welcomed new chief scout Jeff Vetere.
Houllier revealed a number of candidates were interviewed for the post, but the 44-year-old's multilingual skills and wide network of contacts stood out.
"He knows football inside out," Houllier told Villa's website. "He's got a lot of people and a good network and can speak several languages because now you need to have scouts that can travel. He will work closely with me.
"I must say I was impressed because a lot of the people I interviewed were good, but the little details made all the difference."
Houllier is keen to improve the structure of Villa's player recruitment network in order to unearth hidden talents at home and abroad.
"We needed to have a structure and somebody who has got a network," added the manager.
"I'm not talking about the players that we know, but it is good to have someone who knows that this one is at the end of his contract, this one is available or we should have a look at this one.
"Initially I prefer to have English players, but English players are usually more expensive than the rest.
"If you look at some teams like Bolton and Blackburn they have players from everywhere in the world now, so you need to have networks practically in all continents."
