French star Alan Saint-Maximin sparked widespread controversy after fiery statements in which he revealed shocking details from his difficult experience at Turkish club Fenerbahçe.

The French star played for the Turkish club on loan from Al Ahly last season.

Saint-Maximin said: "At Fenerbahçe... they tried to give me performance-enhancing drugs! All kinds of manipulations, financial problems, and false promises. So much happened that I could write a book about it."

He added: "I was receiving threats, being told: if you speak, we will do this and that to you. I experienced crazy things there that people don’t know about, and it affected me a lot."

The player talked about the harsh personal circumstances he went through, saying: "They forced me to play when my father was on his deathbed. They didn’t understand me, and despite that, I gave my best, but when we couldn’t win matches, they blamed me."

He concluded with an angry question: "I kept asking myself: are we really on the same team?"