UK developer Sports Interactive has announced that Liverpool-based Premiership football team Everton has signed a first-of-its-kind deal that will officially allow club manager David Moyes and his backroom staff unrivalled access to the player database of Football Manager 2009.

The studio boasts that the FM2009 databse includes over 370,000 players and staff encompassing 20,000 active teams across 50 countries. It is claimed that the game will help Everton spot the ‘best young talent from around the world’.

The press release reads: “In the past, Football Manager has accurately identified Wayne Rooney’s potential talent when he was just fifteen and has been the first to predict other future stars including Lionel Messi, Ashley Young and Jose Baxter”.

The developer also claims that Everton’s approach wasn’t the first time the firm had been approached by a team in search of a deal of this kind, either.

“We’ve known for a while that teams use the game to research certain players, whether to buy or to check out the opposition,” Sports Interactive’s studio director Miles Jacobson stated. “But this formal recognition by a premiership team is fantastic and we are sure it will prove a fruitful one for the Everton FC.”

Though a very interesting story, news of the Everton deal still fails to topple the famed application for the job of manager at Middlesbrough by Football manager fan John Boileau as the best piece of FM news ever, particularly owing to chairman Steve Gibson’s spirited response.