Northampton Saints can today confirm that back row Karl Wilkins has left the Club following the conclusion of the 2022/23 season.
The 27-year-old joined Saints from AS Béziers Hérault ahead of the 2021/22 campaign, and went on to make 14 appearances in Black, Green and Gold over his two seasons in Northampton, scoring one try against Leicester Tigers.
Originally coming through the Saints Academy system, Wilkins was part of the Northampton squad that won the Premiership’s Under-18 Academy League in 2013/14 before leaving for ASM Clermont Auvergne in France aged 18.
The Ipswich-born flanker then rejoined boyhood club Saints after making over 50 appearances for French ProD2 side Béziers since his arrival from Clermont in 2016.
Wilkins joins ProD2 outfit US Montauban from Northampton, and departs with the best wishes of everyone at the Club.
Premiership’s highest paid player each season from 1998 to 2022
The Gallagher Premiership is now filled with players who earn astronomical salaries. Year upon year, wages for top players seem to skyrocket.
By how much? We’ve identified the highest-paid Premiership player for every season since the game went professional to find out.
To do so, we’ve undertook painstaking research to delve into newspaper archives to reveal the reported player wages.
Some seasons had multiple highest earners with players signing contracts at different times throughout the campaign but they’ve used the highest earner at the end of each season.
Got it? Good.
Let’s take a look at the results:
1997-1998: Va’aiga Tuigamala (Newcastle Falcons) – £80,000 per season
Embed from Getty Images1999-2000: Francois Pienaar (Saracens) – £85,000 per season
Embed from Getty Images2000-2001: Jason Robinson (Sale Sharks) – £180,000 per season
Embed from Getty Images