#4. Jack Nowell
The Rugby Paper report the star winger’s CV is currently doing the rounds in the French Top 14 with the 29-year-old out of contract at Sandy Park at the end of the season.
Responding to the speculation, Nowell has revealed he’d love to stay at Sandy Park, but added he must always put his ‘family first’.
Speaking exclusively to The Telegraph, he said: “I won’t go to another Premiership side,”
“I want to stay at Exeter, but I’m out of contract, there’s stuff going on with the salary cap and I’ve got a growing family. And I’ll be 30 after the World Cup. I’m in talks with the club at the moment; ideally I’d stay but I’m not too sure what’s going on. The first thing for me is my family.
“My only option if I’m in England is to stay. France, Japan… I went out to Japan for the World Cup – it was an amazing country. I’d like to give Japan a go over France but, obviously, anything could happen.
“There will potentially be a time when I go somewhere else but my roots are here and I’d always end up back here. At the same time, I am quite ‘out there’ as a person and I like my family to be like that so, if I’m given the chance to experience something else with them, then I have to take it.
“The flipside is, if I can get stuff sorted here and I’m still in a position where I can look after the family. I love the club dearly and my main option would be to stay, if I can get something sorted.”
#5. Joe Simmonds
Having failed to break into the England set-up, brother of Sam, Joe could be tempted by an overseas move if the right sort of offer lands on his lap.
Such was his growing influence within the side that in January 2020, Director of Rugby Rob Baxter made Simmonds captain for the Champions Cup trip to Glasgow Warriors.
By the end of the disrupted season, he would not only lead the Chiefs into two major finals against Racing 92 and Wasps, but he would lift both cups alongside club captain Jack Yeandle.
That double triumph was rewarded on an even higher scale when he was given an MBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List.
