Maro Itoje breaks silence on his future amid Racing 92 transfer interest - Ruck
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Maro Itoje breaks silence on his future amid Racing 92 transfer interest

12 June 2020
Steven
Maro Itoje has revealed he is “95% sure” of where he will be playing his club rugby next season after being linked with a move away from relegated Saracens.

“It’s still to be confirmed but I’m 95% sure where I will be,” revealed Itoje on the Political Thinking podcast.

The England head coach, Eddie Jones, and other senior Twickenham officials had hoped Itoje would be moving on loan to Racing 02, but that was blocked pre-pandemic.

Itoje has also been linked with a loan move to Leicester Tigers (later denied by Geordan Murphy) or London Irish as Saracens prepare to spend a season in the Championship following their salary cap breaches.

The Top 14 club offered the England star a whopping £1m to join the club for a season on loan, but this was blocked, with clubs insisting it does not fit the “exceptional circumstances” clause which might theoretically allow a player to represent his country while based abroad.

However, Jones is reportedly ‘hopeful’ the deal can still be done as the pay row between Gallagher Premiership clubs and the RPA rages on.

It’ believed the ex-saracens boss is very involved with transfer discussions, with Jones also involved in the potential departures of Mako Vunipola and Owen Farrell.

EDITORS PICKS:

Speaking on the podcast, Itoje also backed the recent Black Lives Matter protests, hoping that the demonstrations across the country can “force politicians” to want change in society.

“The risk is, and it’s the same with every type of movement, is that you create a new story and a buzz for a couple of weeks or a couple of months and then it dies down and everything goes back to normal. That’s the danger,” Itoje explained. 

“We need to bring suggestions of what can be done, what can change and how can we try and solve this problem and we need to force politicians to have this desire as well.

“I think protests are very important because they highlight an issue, whether it’s climate change or racism over the last couple of weeks, and they make people listen who wouldn’t normally listen to it. It’s the groundwork for change to come about.”

JOIN THE RUCK

LIST | 6 times Maro Itoje was a superb sh*thouse

Whether you either love him or hate him, it’s impossible to deny that England lock Maro Itoje has a certain skill of getting under the skin of opposition players and fans.

1. Joining the celebrations

Itoje taunts Glasgow as he joins in disallowed try celebrations.

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