Cardiff City have reportedly replaced their head of recruitment with a 23-year-old intern.

It is believed that Cardiff owner Vincent Tan, who recently fell out with players over bonus payments, has now put previous incumbent Iain Moody on gardening leave.

Manager Malky Mackay will now have to work with 23 year old Alisher Apsalyamov, who is from Kazakhstan and a son of one of Tan's friends.

He has no football experience and had been helping out with odd jobs around the stadium. According to reports, he was painting walls as recently as three months ago.

Cardiff are making no comment for legal reasons.

Moody (l) with Mackay

Moody's role was to act as a trusted advisor to the manager and he also helped arrange deals to bring in players such as Sevilla's Gary Medel and Tottenham's Steven Caulker to the club.

Malaysian businessman Tan has courted controversy before. It was he who insisted that the club switch their club colours from their traditional blue to scarlet.

There are fears that Mackay's future at the club will eventually become untenable as his relationship with Tan becomes more strained.

The club are currently 14th in their first season in the Premier League and claimed the scalp of Manchester City earlier in the season.

Pictured: Vincent Tan and Malky Mackay