Leaks linked to fantasy football

STAFF from Premier league clubs have contacted a Norwegian fantasy football ‘insider’, asking him to hide their identities as they could face punishment for inadvertently leaking team news. The FPL Insider Twitter account — which tracks the online fantasy football profiles of Premier league players and staff and tweets when they transfer one of their real-life colleagues — made headlines last month when it revealed that several Aston Villa stars had substituted out Jack Grealish. Two days later, Grealish missed Villa’s 2-1 defeat by leicester through injury, with Foxes manager Brendan Rodgers admitting afterwards that he had heard rumours over the midfielder’s fitness. Villa boss dean Smith vowed to reprimand the source of the leak and it is believed his players and staff are now banned from playing fantasy football amid concerns over secrecy. Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has also described the issue as ‘unprofessional and unethical’. Sportsmail can reveal that members of staff for top-flight teams have been in touch with the owner of the account — a Norwegian Villa fan named Henning — to request that he no longer discloses their names and job titles when tweeting out their transfers as they fear disciplinary action from their clubs. Henning has since announced he will no longer publish this information for backroom staff, but any changes made by players will still be tweeted out — leaving clubs vulnerable to more team news hitting social media.