Jan Poortvliet may have to pay a heftier price than he originally envisaged to secure his position as Saints head coach.

The wranglings over his release from Helmond Sport are extending still further after the Dutch club decided to turn down an offer of a 30,000 euro lump sum from the World Cup finalist to buy himself out of the remaining year of his contract.

Helmond director Mario Captein continued to position his club to drain every last euro they can out of the situation by calling the offer "so minimal it should not be taken seriously."

Poortvliet cannot officially sign his one year rolling contract to become Saints head coach until his contract situation with Helmond is sorted.

He is paying the compensation out of his own pocket for that to happen but it now seems that will end up being far more expensive for Poortvliet, who earns a meagre wage compared to English bosses, than he would have anticipated.

There is no question of him not joining Saints but Helmond have realised they are in a strong bargaining position and are trying to make sure they get as much cash as they can to compensate as they don't want Poortvliet to leave.

As well as receiving advice from Saints, Poortvliet is being represented by the Dutch manager's association who are handling the negotiations with Helmond.

Poortvliet has signed a pre-contract agreement with Saints but the emphasis is on him to keep up his end of the bargain and sort out his situation with Helmond.

Captein is ultimately threatening to force Poortvliet into taking the matter to the KNVB, the Dutch FA, whose arbitration panel will make a final ruling if an agreement cannot be reached.

They will almost certainly agree that the move to Saints is a step up for Poortvliet in terms of salary and his career and therefore accept his decision to leave.

But then they decide on the compensation figure which could be a maximum of the full year remaining on his Helmond contract.

Saints have said they expect that hearing would take place a week before Poortvliet is due to start at Saints on June 23 - if it comes to that - and will not comment any further while negotiations are ongoing.

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