Saracens Hopeful of Keeping Maro Itoje as French Interest Grows

Saracens are hopeful of extending Maro Itoje's contract, even as reported interest from French clubs raises the prospect of England losing their lock. BBC Sport reports that talks are under way to keep Itoje at the club beyond his current deal, which runs out after the 2027 Rugby World Cup.

Itoje is a lock, one of the tall forwards who compete for the ball when a team throws it back in from the touchline at a lineout. He has played for Saracens since he was a teenager. He will be 33 by the end of that World Cup, according to the BBC.

The money is a big part of the story. The Top 14, France's top league, has a headline salary cap of 11m euros (£9.2m). The Premiership's equivalent figure is £6.4m. A salary cap limits how much a club can spend on player wages, and the Premiership allows each club one marquee player, a high-profile signing who sits outside that limit. The Top 14 has no such exemption.

French newspaper Midi-Olympique claims Bordeaux-Begles and Perpignan were alerted to Itoje's potential availability. Racing 92 were also previously credited with interest in him, although no move followed.

The England question may matter even more. The Rugby Football Union has a policy of not selecting players based overseas. Staying in England would make Itoje eligible for a central England contract, the national deal that keeps leading players available for Test matches, worth about £150,000 a year.

Itoje was rested for England's summer fixtures against South Africa, Fiji and Argentina, under an agreement between clubs and country that manages player workload. He has been part of the England squad for years, and a move abroad would take him out of that picture.

For England supporters, the next few months will show whether Saracens can match the money on offer elsewhere. Any move to France would almost certainly end his time in the England squad, though that outcome has not been confirmed by either side.