An ex-Hibs player has revealed how he was left penniless after the dream foreign transfer he signed became a nightmare leading to the young sportsman losing thousands of pounds.
Stevie Mallan, 26, was delighted to be heading abroad after securing a lucrative deal to play overseas. But the moves fell apart and he was left badly out of pocket when his new employer failed to pay him report the Record.
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Midfielder Stevie came through the ranks at St Mirren before moving south to join English Championship side Barnsley in 2017. He returned to Scotland with Hibernian before securing a loan move to Turkish top-flight side Yeni Malatyaspor in 2021.
As well as ex-Arsenal playmaker Mesut Ozil, the league boasted former Atletico Madrid, Monaco, Chelsea, and Manchester United striker Radamel Falcao, who was with Galatasaray, and winger Arda Turan, who played for Atletico and Barcelona.
A successful loan move and a bumper contract offer convinced Stevie to return to the Turkish side permanently for the 2021-2022 season.
The ex-Hibs player, who won nine caps for Scotland under-21s, said: “I joined in the July and my first wage was October. So I missed out on July’s wages, August’s wages, and September’s wages.
"Then I never saw anything after October. Turkish contracts are paid over 10 months. So for two months of the year, you don’t get anything. Out of the 10 months, in the first year, I got one. They blamed the TV company, saying it hadn’t paid clubs.
"A few times we didn’t train because we weren’t getting payments. They owed everybody money. They kept saying, ‘We’ll pay you, we’ll pay you’.
"I needed an operation on my back and the couple of days I waited for that were terrible. I turned up at 6am. It was private in Istanbul. I had to wait until 6pm because the club wouldn’t pay for the operation. I was in for two days post-operation.
“When I was leaving the hospital staff asked how I was paying. It was 8,000 or 10,000 Euros. Eventually, the club paid it. If we won, our bonuses were paid cash in hand and on time. That’s what saw me through till the end of the season and paid for my shopping and my car.”
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Stevie cut his deal short and signed for English side Salford City, which is owned by Manchester United legends Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, Phil Neville, Paul Scholes, and David Beckham.
PFA Scotland took the cases to the Disputes Resolution Chamber at FIFA, the world football’s governing body, for breach of contract and non-payment of salary.
The case was successful but Stevie is still waiting for his payout. Yeni Malatyaspor and FIFA were approached by the Daily Record for comment.
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