Richard Cockerill has admitted Manu Tuilagi was tempted by substantial offers from rival clubs before agreeing a new three-year contract with Leicester that has made the England centre one of the highest paid players in the Premiership.
Historically Leicester have not been drawn into offering inflated salaries to individuals, preferring to spread the salary cap allowance more evenly. But after missing out on two successive Premiership finals they were determined to keep Tuilagi, 24, when it became known Saracens were interested in the player, although he has not appeared for 14 months because of a groin injury but is set for a return after Christmas.
Leicester this week announced that four of their England players had signed new contracts, Tuilagi, Ben Youngs, Ed Slater and Freddie Burns. “The talks were relatively straightforward, apart from those with Manu,” said Cockerill, Leicester’s director of rugby. “There was the supposed interest of other clubs offering him a lot more money and that turned his head and made the process longer. You have to think things through and make sure he comes to the right decision, which he did.”
Cockerill said claims that Tuilagi’s salary had risen to £425,000 a year were inaccurate. “I do not know what the rest of them get paid,” he said when asked if Tuilagi was to become the highest paid player in England. “The reports of what Manu is getting paid here are a bit exaggerated. Once contracts are signed, we move on. The press will speculate about what he or someone else earns but I am not interested in that. Manu is our player, so is Ben Youngs, Freddie Burns and Ed Slater.
“We are talking to a few other players who are coming out of contract. When you are spending money at the top end and paying guys more with the salary cap increasing, you have to find the budget and make sure that the jigsaw fits. Sometimes you have to get the bigger pieces in place before you can put the others together. We are big-hitters in the game. We get criticised that we are not in the market for marquee players but the four we have re-signed would all be marquee if they went somewhere else.”
Slater, the Leicester captain, said keeping Tuilagi, left, showed the club’s ambition. “It is a big statement,” he added. “Manu didn’t want to chase the money, otherwise he wouldn’t have re-signed. The whole package he saw at Leicester was more important than getting money elsewhere.”
Leicester will be without the flanker Matt Williams for the next three months. He broke his left arm playing against his former club, Worcester, last weekend and has had surgery. “He made a tackle and instead of going down he got back into the defensive line,” said Cockerill. “I don’t know whether he is daft or brave but it just shows his attitude is fantastic.”
Meanwhile the Wales and Lions No8 Taulupe Faletau, who had hoped to join Bath at the end of the World Cup only for the move to be blocked by the national head coach, Warren Gatland, is in talks with Newport Gwent Dragons and the Welsh Rugby Union about signing the national dual contract he rejected last season.
One player who will not be on a dual contract next season is the centre Scott Williams, who led Wales in a World Cup warm-up match. He has sparked a bidding war between his region, the Scarlets, and Ospreys, taking him out of the WRU’s price bracket.
“It’s over to the regions really to try and keep Scott,” said the WRU chairman, Gareth Davies. “The central contract from us has been withdrawn after some of the regions started upping the ante. Funding issues mean we cannot centrally contract everybody and it is important that the regions and the union work together to ensure we retain as many players as possible.”
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