Cardiff City manager Malky Mackay's head of recruitment, Iain Moody, has been suspended and replaced by 23-year-old Kazakhstani Alisher Apsalyamov.
Moody is credited with most of the signings made during Mackay's two-year tenure as Cardiff coach and is regarded by the Scot as one of his trusted aides.
However it is reported he has been replaced by Apsalyamov, who is a friend of owner Vincent Tan's son.
The move comes days after he had to intervene between Cardiff's players and Tan over a bonus row.
Cardiff players have reportedly requested that Tan not enter the dressing room before or during games. The Bluebirds are 14th in the Premier League table after seven games.
Moody was pivotal in the signings of £8 million pair Steven Caulker and Andreas Cornelius, as well as Chilean midfielder Gary Medel, French right-back Kevin Theophile-Catherine, Fraizer Campbell and Jordon Mutch, amongst others.
His career began as a Uefa-appointed interpreter for Italy during the 1996 European Championship.
Moody went on to become a writer at Football365 in 1999 and moved to a sports management agency in 2001.
Ten years later, he joined Watford when Mackay managed the Vicarage Road side, where he was promoted to football operations manager.