Matej Poplatnik leaves Kerala Blasters for Scottish club Livingston FC

The Slovenian forward was a lethal attacking option for the Yellow Army in the 2018-19 season.

On Wednesday, Scottish Premiership club Livingston FC officially announced that they have signed Slovenian striker Matej Poplatnik from Kerala Blasters. The striker had spent the recently-concluded 2019-20 season on loan at Hungarian club Kaposvari Rakoczi, where he managed just one start in a total of six appearances. As he had a year left on his contract with the Blasters, he was expected to return next season, before Livingston FC snapped him up.

"Livingston FC is delighted to announce the signing of attacker Matej Poplatnik," read the club's official statement. His signing was announced alongside that of Jack Fitzwater, a defender who played for Walsall in League Two, the fourth tier of English football.

Soon after the announcement, Matej Poplatnik himself took to social media to bid his final goodbyes to Kerala Blasters and their fans.

"Yellow Army, it is not a goodbye but time to accept new challenges and opportunities in my life. I will miss you all guys and I will think about you every day," he wrote. "I am not a player of Kerala Blasters anymore, but from now I am a part of Manjappada. Thank you for everything, for every second you gave me, for all your support. You made my experience in India just amazing. Thank you again for everything. Hope to see you again."

The 27-year-old joined the Blasters in 2018, scoring four times in 16 appearances during his maiden Indian Super League (ISL) season. He was then shipped off to Kaposvar in 2019, from where he returned in January 2020 after failing to make an impact in the Hungarian top-flight.

The Kochi outfit, under their newly-appointed head coach Kibu Vicuna and sporting director Karolis Skinkys, is reportedly all set for a major restructuring, due to the poor run of results in the last three seasons. After reaching the finals of the ISL twice in the first three seasons, the club failed to repeat their good performances in the seasons that followed. Since 2016, they are yet to qualify for the play-offs and in the 2019-20 season, they finished at a lowly seventh place with just 19 points from 18 matches (four wins, seven draws, seven defeats).

Poor results from the previous seasons have thus forced the club's management to shift their focus to signing developmental players. They recently announced the extension of Jessel Carneiro's contract as well as the signing of goalkeeper Albino Gomes.