Saracens in chase for Europe’s top target

Saracens, fresh from signing Billy Vunipola and James Johnston this week, are among a possee of clubs chasing Ospreys scrum half Kahn Fotuali’i.
The Samoan has become the most wanted player in Europe as the Pro 12 champions fight to keep him in Wales.
Fotuali’s has had offers from a multitude of clubs in England, France and Ireland. Four of those bidding to sign him are former European champions – Saints, Bath, Munster and Toulouse.
The competition extends beyond those four to Saracens, Castres and Racing Metro, the Parisians who tend to wave their cheque book at just about every leading half- back in the British Isles.
They have waved the biggest cheque of all for Ireland’s putative Lions Test fly- half Jonny Sexton – a reported £625,000-a-year. Like the Dubliner, Fotauli’i is out of contract at the end of the season.
His stock has soared since the Ospreys spotted his potential before anyone else and signed him from the Crusaders two years ago following Mike Phillips’ departure to France.
Since then, the New Zealand import has won universal acclaim for overtaking not just Phillips in the global rankings but every other Test scrum-half into the bargain.
The 30-year-old New Zealander from Auckland, in Italy today for the Ospreys’ closing European Cup pool tie at Treviso, is adamant that he has ‘no clear idea’ where he will be next season.
Bath want him to replace Michael Claassens, the 30-year-old South African whose proposed transfer to Toulon is understood to be subject to Jonny Wilkinson retiring at the end of the season.
The Welsh region see Fotuali’i as arguably the key component in a rejuvenated team eager to build on last month’s home win over Toulouse and last week’s home draw against Leicester which left the Tigers counting their lucky stars at escaping the same fate as their opponents at Welford Road this afternoon (Sunday, January 20).
The Ospreys have been locked in negotiations with Fotuali’i’s Auckland-based agent over a new contract. The Welsh region is pulling out all the stops to keep him. If they succeed, it will be a coup not just for the Celtic champions but Welsh rugby as a whole.
Dan Biggar, in pole position to start for Wales at No. 10 against Ireland in Cardiff on Saturday week, has indicated his readiness to stay with the Ospreys for three more seasons. Like his scrum-half partner, Biggar is out of contract at the end of the season.
“I’ve asked myself three things: Am I happy? Am I going to be looked after financially? Are we a competitive side?” he said to me.
PETER JACKSON