Despite interest in France Manu Tuilagi is edging towards a move to the Far East to play in the Japan Rugby League after the 2023 Rugby World Cup, according to The Rugby Paper.
Tuilagi, who is set to leave the North West next June when his contract expires, was very keen on a move to Racing 92 but the Top 14 have gone cold on a potential move.
The Parisians were willing to pay Tuilagi around £830,000 per year back in 2019, which was more than twice what Sale are currently shelling out for him.
Tuilagi, who actually had a tour of their training ground when the previous offer was on the table, was only stopped from joining after crisis talks with England boss Eddie Jones.
There is also considerable interest from clubs in the USA, but Japan are now the favourites to land the powerhouse centre.
DID YOU KNOW? He was named Manusamoa, after the name of the Samoan national team, Manu Samoa, because his brother Freddie was selected for Samoa at the World Cup in 1991, the year Manu was born
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Tuilagi shows off incredible body transformation ahead of new season
Manu Tuilagi has ensured he returns to Sale Sharks pre-season in the best possible shape after sharing a snap of his physique as he looks to be involved in England’s 2023 World Cup campaign.
The trimmed-down England centre has lost 2kgs after ending his guilty pleasure of binging on food.
Now off the crutches, the centre has continued to slim down as he looks to lessen his chance of injury.
Heading into the summer, Tuilagi tipped the scales at 114kg (17-stone 9lbs), but has lost six kgs [10lbs] and should drop a stone in weight once they are two or three games into the club season.
“I love my food. It is a mentality thing, you probably think you will be alright and you will get through it, until you think about it and you change your mentality.
“Running around for 80 minutes, those 2kgs can weigh you down quite a bit so we thought, lose a bit of weight and that would allow us to be a bit more mobile, a bit more agile.”
BEST RUGBY TRANSFORMATIONS:
Below, we look at five other rugby stars who transformed their bodies to get themselves into top condition.
#1. David Pocock
The Wallabies legend started out as an skinny 78kg teen who worked day in and day out to transform himself, with his size and strength came at a cost, Pocock told Australian Story.
