SAINTS' new owner Gao Jisheng has met up with Maya Yoshida in Japan after the centre-back helped his country to World Cup qualification.

The Chinese businessman bought an 80 per cent stake in the club last month, but is yet to show his face or talk publicly since the £210m deal.

Gao, who is said to be worth around £1.5bn, bought the majority stake alongside his daughter, Nelly, entering in to a "partnership" with Katharina Liebherr, who now owns 20 per cent of the club.

Yoshida played for Japan at the Saitama Stadium, where the Blue Samurai defeated Australia 2-0 to book themselves a place in the World Cup finals in Russia next summer.

It's not clear whether Gao watched Yoshida in action or not, but the two met up afterwards.

Yoshida wrote on Twitter: "Glad to meet Mr. Gao who is a new partner of Southampton FC after the match against [Australia] ! Looking forward to working together soon!"