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REPORT: PSDT offered €3.6million deal to leave Stormers
By Ian Cameron
Reports emerging from South Africa this weekend suggest Stormers face a pitched battle to keep Pieter-Steph du Toit (PSDT) after the backrow was offered a huge money deal to play in Europe. Afrikaans newspaper Rapport write that the World Player of the Year is a target of a number of big-spending clubs in France, who are prepared to fork out cash despite the uncertainty surrounding the current pandemic.
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The paper report that cash-rich Montpellier have tabled the biggest offer to date. The Top 14 side have apparently offered Du Toit €100,000 a month in a three-year deal that could see him pocket €3.6 million euro or roughly £3.2 million pounds over the lifetime of the contract.
It’s a sum that no SA team could compete with. The move comes as the two major player unions in SA, South African Rugby Employers’ Organisation (SAREO) and MyPlayers, look to enforce a May 14th deadline for a three-week window that players need to vacate their current contracts by in order to sign on a new player agreement. This mean any player who wants to stay playing in SA needs to sign on or before the 14th, which means PSDT has just 11 days to decide his future.
The 6’7, 119kg backrow capped off the 2019 season when he added the SA Rugby Player of the Year award to his World Rugby Player of the Year accolade. Du Toit became the first Springbok POTY recipient since Bryan Habana in 2007 and third overall. He received the award ahead of five other nominees in Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones, England flanker Tom Curry, New Zealand flanker Ardie Savea, South Africa team-mate Cheslin Kolbe and USA hooker Joe Taufete’e.
His success has seen his stock sky-rocket, making him a target of the clubs in Europe and Japan. The towering 27-year-old may have flitted between second-row and flanker in the early days of his international career, but he has made the No.7 jersey his own over the last two years and his work-rate and versatility mean he is one of the first names down on Rassie Erasmus’ team sheet.
