How much Toulon paid Munster for Antoine Frisch

Antoine Frisch will sign a four-year deal with Top 14 giants Toulon after they agreed a €300,000 (£257,524) transfer fee with Munster to buy him out of the final year of his deal and secure his services from the start of next season.

Toulon have seen off La Rochelle, Montpellier and Perpignan to land Frisch, 27,  who was Irish-qualified via a Dublin-born grandmother with the offer of €28,000 (£24,000)  a month, which will pocket him nearly three times the €140,000 (£120,000) he currently earns.

Frisch spent years in the lower echelons of French rugby with Tarbes, Massy, and Rouen, then spent a season in the Premiership with Bristol Bears before joining Munster in 2022 on a three-year deal.

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But his future with the Irish province was thrown into doubt as soon as he pledged his international future to France after he was called into train with Fabien Galthié’s Six Nations squad even though he failed to win a cap.

Frisch is set to win his first caps this summer, however, when Galthié takes his Les Bleus squad to Argentina for two games. The first is scheduled to take place on July 6th, seven days after the 2024 Top 14 Final, and the second is a week later.

Toulon have been the favourites to land the outside centre since it became clear he was leaving Ireland, but they were reluctant to match Munster’s asking price, which they believed was too high in relation to what he was being paid.

Munster will now look to sign a replacement and has been in talks with Leicester Tigers, trying to negotiate a deal that would see Ireland-qualified England international Dan Kelly make the switch across the Irish Sea.

RugbyPass understands that the Tigers could demand a significant chuck of the transfer fee they received for Frisch before allowing Kelly to move to the United Rugby Championship.