France great Michalak set to make sensational retirement u-turn - reports

According to a report in Midi Olympique, former France and Toulouse fly-half Frédéric Michalak is set to don his boots once more and turn out for Rugby United New York, in their debut Major League Rugby season in 2019.

Michalak, whose most recent stint was with Lyon, also enjoyed a successful period with Toulon, during which the last of his 77 caps for Les Bleus was won. It was an international career that last 14 years and offered up 436 points, 101 of which were amassed at the 2003 Rugby World Cup, a tournament which the Frenchman lit up and truly arrived on the global scene at.

The New York-based MLR franchise have already signed up by Ben Foden for the 2019 season and it looks as if their bid to add star power is far from over if the reports in Midi Olympique are to be believed. The club have also signed Irish fly-half Cathal Marsh, with Marsh a former Leinster academy member and Ireland U20 representative, so should Michalak end up in the Big Apple, he will have battle on his hands to win the starting 10 jersey.

As one of two new franchises joining the competition in 2019, Rugby United New York would struggle to make a much bigger splash than signing the mercurial Michalak, who delighted and frustrated rugby fans in equal measure over the course of his professional career in France. Along with Foden, he would be one of the higher profile rugby players to ply their trade in the US.

Michalak is not only linked with a playing role in the US, but Midi Olympique also report that he is set to take the general manager role at a rugby club being formed in Monaco in 2020, one which is set to be funded by the Principality’s reigning monarch, Prince Albert.

He recently returned to Lyon in an advisory role.

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