ALTAY SK have revealed that they attempted to offer latest Saints signing Mateusz Lis a new deal – with the departure of the Polish shotstopper set to cost the Turkish club money.

Saints moved to complete their second signing of the summer window yesterday, with 25-year-old Lis arriving on a free transfer subject to work permit approval.

Lis only became available thanks to the fact that his contract was ripped up after the now-relegated Turkish Super Lig club failed to make payments to the goalkeeper.

A shake-up at a boardroom level at Altay, salvaging the club’s future, saw the new management offer Lis a new deal, but it was rejected by the former Lech Poznan youngster.

Whilst Lis remained for an extra two weeks unpaid, he departed at the start of May, allowing him to join Saints this summer, despite signing a four-year contract with Altay in 2021.

The İzmir-based club already owe Lis’ previous side, Wisla Krakow, €600,000, but they could be in line to lose more money, depending on his contract with Saints.

That is because Altay are still on the hook for the unpaid wages of Lis, with three years of his deal effectively needing to be paid.

However, as he has found a new club, Altay will only have to pay the Pole if the money he receives from Saints is less than the wages he would have earnt at Altay.

Any difference in wages would have to be met by Altay.

The club revealed that the goalkeeper earnt roughly €8,750 a week, with the total wage for the remainder of his four-year deal totalling €1,350,000.

Already owed €175,000 in unpaid wages, Lis could potentially be awarded a further fee after litigation.

A statement from Altay read: “There has been a need to inform the public and our community about our former player, Mateusz Lis, who was announced as a free transfer by Southampton FC.

“On April 1, 2022, the player sent a notice to our club for his unpaid receivables of €175,000.

“Since the player's payments were not made until April 15, 2022, the player was entitled to be released from this date.

“The player stayed in our club until April 30th in good faith, but after this date, he left our country and sent the termination notice to our club as of May 3, 2022.

“Various offers made by our management, which took office as of 20 May 2022, such as contract renewal by paying the player's receivables and a share of a transfer fee in case of sale, were not met by the player, the player's manager (agent) and lawyer.

“In this context, the unpaid €600,000 transfer fee to the Wisla Krakow club is included in the accounting of our club; €175,000 unpaid to and owed to the player, which could also be increased by litigation.

“According to the annual fee he will sign with Southampton FC, the difference between these two fees is written as debt - if the fee he will receive from Southampton FC is less than this fee, with the fee of €1,350,000 arising from his three year contract, which is €450,000 per year.”

A message from the Editor

Thank you for reading this article - we appreciate your support in reading the Daily Echo.

Subscribing to the Echo means you have unrestricted access to the latest news, features and Saints coverage - all with an advertising-light website.

You will also have full access to Saintsplus, your new home for Southampton FC tactical analysis, features and much, much more.

Don't take my word for it - subscribe here to see for yourself.

Follow the latest breaking news in the Southampton area by joining our Facebook group - Southampton News - Breaking News and Incidents

Follow the latest court and crime news on our dedicated Facebook group - Hampshire Court and Crime News