Leicester will fight for new Tuilagi deal

Leicester Tigers are confident they can put together a deal to keep Manu Tuilagi at Welford Road after reports in France that the 27-yearold had been shown round the facilities of Racing 92 in Paris on Monday.

The England centre, who returned to regular action for club and country this season after lengthy injury lay-offs over the past couple of years, has been courted by several clubs but a move overseas would make him ineligible for England. That is sure to be a factor in any negotiations, given the emotional attachment he feels to playing for his country after so many absences as well as the £250,000 a year an international player can earn in match fees alone.

Leicester had to fight off several suitors last time Tuilagi signed a contract in December 2015. His present deal, believed to make him one of the highest-paid England players in the Premiership on a reported £425,000 a year, ends in June.

“We believe that we can offer Manu a package that competes with anything else that might be on the table,” Simon Cohen, Leicester’s chief executive, told The Daily Telegraph. “Manu is an important part of the Leicester family.”

Racing would have to consider making an offer in the region of €1 million (£876,000) a year to tempt Tuilagi from the club he has been associated with since he was a schoolboy living with his brothers, who were playing for them at the time. Leicester were also instrumental in helping him fight a visa deportation order when he was a teenager.

Tuilagi made his Tigers debut in 2010 and was selected for England the following year, taking part in the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand – albeit that tournament ended with him in the doghouse after being fined £3,000 for jumping off a ferry into Auckland harbour.