A Premiership club has reportedly made a 'colossal offer' for Racing's Virimi Vakatawa
Gallagher Premiership club Gloucester have reportedly made a “colossal offer” to sign Virimi Vakatawa, the 24-cap France international who will be out of contract at Racing 92 at the end of the 2020/21 season.
The 28-year-old, who is currently considered one of the best players in the world, has played for his Parisian club for a decade but Midi Olympique are reporting that Gloucester, who are in the early months of the new George Skivington era, have made a serious play to secure the services of Vakatawa from next summer as their marquee player outside the revised salary cap.
It’s believed the offer from Gloucester arrived on the desk of the agent of Vakatawa a fortnight ago, muddying the waters at Racing where some other high profile backs have also had their futures speculated on.
Teddy Thomas is another dashing player whose contract is also up at the end of this season and he is apparently being tracked by Toulouse who are keeping tabs on the views of Jacky Lorenzetti about the winger.
The Racing president is concerned about Thomas’ injury profile as he has only made 15 Top 14 starts the last two seasons and is yet to appear this term.
Kolbe, Cros, Vakatawa… Le XV de la 2ème journée ??? pic.twitter.com/fJCxjXfQ5e
— RUGBYRAMA (@RugbyramaFR) September 14, 2020
There is also speculation in the French media that Argentine Emiliano Boffelli is being viewed as a replacement for Simon Zebo, another of the Racing stars out of contract next summer.
Zebo, who was linked earlier this year with the MLR in America, enjoyed a dazzling first season in France, scoring 16 tries in all competitions during his debut 2018/19 season after joining from Munster. However, a serious of injuries hampered his impact last season and he has yet to feature in 2020/21.
Boffelli is another Argentine looking for a way out of the Jaguares, whose Super Rugby momentum has been destroyed by the Covid-19 stoppage.
Worrying scenes in Paris. https://t.co/PBET77DeaZ
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 12, 2020