Nigeria striker Michael Uchebo has said Portuguese club Boavista have not paid him since March after freezing him out.
Uchebo -- who could take his case to FIFA, world football's governing body, if no resolution can be reached -- told a news conference last week that he had been "dying in silence" at the club.
He said he had been forced to train alone for almost a year since the situation began last November when Boavista advised him to find another club.
"I remember going to have a shop and not having money to buy something; I came to [the club] and said I needed money for food," he said.
"They haven't paid my house rent, haven't paid for my electricity -- I remember two days when I didn't have any electricity in my house.
"They don't give me any money and don't care for me."
Uchebo claimed that, after not being paid in either December or January, offers for him from two other clubs were rejected.
He said he was then paid in March -- but claims to have received no money since and been frozen out of training.
"At the end of August I told the club president that my family had problems because they still hadn't paid me my salary," he said.
"The club president told me: 'I don't pay you, I won't pay you any money, just go.'
"In September they asked me to take one month's salary to leave, but the transfer window had closed. Where did they want me to go?"
Uchebo is being supported by players' union FIFPRO and Portugal's Sindicato dos Jogadores Profissionais de Futebol [SJPF], whose president Joaquim Evangelista told The Guardian that the case "embarrasses the country and Portuguese football."
He added: "Like any other player Michael just wants to do his job. He just wants to play again. The club is violating the obligations established in his contract."
The SJPF said it was negotiating with Boavista, who have not so far commented on the situation, on behalf of Uchebo.