Arsenal will reportedly released a number of senior oversea scouts as they continue their backroom wage cutting exercise and move away from finding their own talent.

The whole point of a scouting system is to identify players who are not only young (and therefore cheaper) but might have been missed by other clubs.

With the news coming last week that 10 part-time youth scouts would be let go in a bid to cut costs at the club, the Sunday People are today reporting, “Arsenal are culling several senior continental scouts in another round of cuts.

“And the Gunners have already told a number of spies working abroad their employment is being terminated.

“Those concerned received letters this week confirming their loss of employment.

“In some instances, those with almost two decades’ service to the club were offered just one month’s money by way of a pay-off.”

At the end of May, The Mirror reported that Arsenal were terminating the contracts of 10 part-time scouts on June 30th. Academy bosses Lee Herron and Steve Brown reportedly spoke to them about the decision after an email from the club’s human resources department.

The hope is that they’ll all get their jobs back from September 1st, although they’ll have to reapply and go through safeguarding checks again.

Arsenal tried to highlight that the decision was due to the fact that no academy football is currently going on but that doesn’t hold much water when looked at closely.