Manu Tuilagi has been pondering a potential move to France for a while now, but reports claim that Leicester have found their replacement should he leave.
That man is Wales’ No 13 Jonathan Davies who’s future at the Scarlets has been thrown into doubt following the country’s announcement of Project Reset.
The project would see two Welsh regions merge and the talk last week was that the Ospreys and Scarlets would be the two teams involved.
If that were to happen Davies could be the first big name casualty to head through the exit door and according to a report in Sunday’s The Rugby Paper, he has been “sounded out by Leicester about his future plans”.
The 30-year-olds move all depends on Tuilagi’s decision. The options are either to stay at Leicester or go to Racing 92 in a deal worth a reported £2.6 million.
If the moves did happen Davies would still be able to play for Wales as he already has the 60 international caps required (72) for a player to continue playing for the country while playing abroad.
On the other hand, Tuilagi could end his England career, however former Red Rose Joe Marler believes that the RFU would try and make him a special case to continue his selection availability.
“I would be surprised if Manu wasn’t one of those players, they [the RFU] would consider using that particular clause for,” he said in this weekend edition of The Rugby Paper.
Whatever happens internationally, Marler
believes a move to France is too good to turn down for the centre.
“You can’t afford to turn down £2.6m. You can’t ignore that kind of money in this game. Footballers deal with lumps of money like that a lot more than we do in rugby. It’s life-changing,” he added.
Some expect Tuilagi to make a decision on his future following the conclusion of the Six Nations this weekend so watch this space as it could cause a series of centre moves across the spectrum.
