Wanderers are planning to vigorously contest Galatasaray's plan to sue for compensation over the Akin Bulent transfer.

Lawyers for the Turkish club are preparing to go to the newly-established Tribunal for Arbitration in Football (TAF) with a claim for $US7m (£4.4m) alleging Wanderers signed the 23-year-old midfield player when he had already signed a contract with them.

Reebok officials were stunned to hear of the claim, having had Bulent's free transfer and registration sanctioned by FIFA, football's world governing body, in August after the Football Association of Turkey dropped their objection.

They have still to hear from Galatasaray but are preparing to launch a full-scale defence, insisting the player was a free agent when they signed him.

Jean Louis Dupont, the lawyer acting for the Istanbul club, is understood to be basing the claim on a so-called 'private' contract Bulent is alleged to have signed. But Wanderers believed FIFA had already investigated that claim when they sanctioned the player's registration shortly before the transfer deadline.

The case could be one of the first to go before the TAF, which was set up by FIFA in September.

Wanderers have been guarded in their reaction to reports that they are to be sued but have issued a statement: "We have not received any notification from FIFA or the Tribunal of Arbitration for Football. Akin Bulent was a free agent when he signed for the club in the summer. As such, no further comment from the club is necessary at this stage."

Bulent, who missed the start of the season recovering from knee surgery, has made one senior appearance for Wanderers, against Bury in the Worthington Cup, when he was sent off. He is currently awaiting a second suspension after being red-carded in the reserves this week.