{"id":92182,"date":"2025-08-24T11:18:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T11:18:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/92182\/"},"modified":"2025-08-24T11:18:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T11:18:07","slug":"ardie-savea-could-become-highest-paid-player-in-rugby-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/92182\/","title":{"rendered":"Ardie Savea could become ‘highest-paid player in rugby history’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Racing 92 have once again shown their willingness to splash the cash after they reportedly launched an audacious bid to sign Ardie Savea.<\/p>\n

The All Blacks star, who plays for Moana Pasifika, is currently contracted to New Zealand Rugby until the end of the 2027 Rugby World Cup, but that hasn\u2019t stopped the Parisians from making an early move.<\/p>\n

According to The Daily Telegraph in Australia, Racing are willing to make him the \u201chighest-paid player in rugby history\u201d, eclipsing the deals handed to Dan Carter and Matt Giteau in Japan.<\/p>\n

Following in the footsteps of Siya Kolisi and Owen Farrell<\/p>\n

Savea<\/a> could therefore be the latest high-profile player to make the switch to the French capital, following on from Siya Kolisi and Owen Farrell.<\/p>\n

It is understood that they want him to be a \u201cmarquee signing\u201d after the 2027 World Cup and, should they get their wish, Racing will hope he fares better than Kolisi and Farrell.<\/p>\n

The Springboks and England internationals returned home after just a year at the club as they struggled to settle into life at the French side.<\/p>\n

Savea will be 34 by the end of the next global tournament, which again carries risk for the Top 14 outfit, but it would still be considered a massive coup to tempt him over to Europe.<\/p>\n

Pau almost managed to pull off that remarkable transfer back in 2018 as the back-rower considered his options following the 2019 World Cup, but he decided to commit to New Zealand Rugby.<\/p>\n

It turned out to be the correct decision with the loose forward going on to become a key cog in the All Blacks<\/a> pack and win World Rugby Player of the Year in 2023.<\/p>\n

He continues to play a vital role in the side and, after switching from number eight to openside flanker in 2025, Savea has started every game this season, including the disappointing defeat to Argentina on Saturday.<\/p>\n

However, with him being in his mid-30s by the conclusion of the global tournament, a big payday in the northern hemisphere may just be too tempting.<\/p>\n

All Blacks player ratings: Bench \u2019emphatically fails\u2019 in historic defeat while Rieko Ioane is \u2018anonymous\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Other transfer rumours<\/p>\n

Sticking with Racing 92 and RugbyPass are reporting that prop Eddy Ben Arous could be set for a move to Parisian rivals Stade Fran\u00e7ais.<\/p>\n

Ben Arous had been linked with a switch to Major League Rugby side New Orleans Gold, but they have pulled out of next year\u2019s competition.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Newcastle Red Bulls are reportedly looking at Christian Wade, while in the URC, it is understood that the Sharks may want to bring Marnus van der Merwe home next year.<\/p>\n

Van der Merwe could be a direct replacement for Bongi Mbonambi, who is 35 in January and was dropped from the Springboks squad for their Rugby Championship clash with the Wallabies in Cape Town.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Springboks player ratings: Handre Pollard \u2018masterminds\u2019 revenge mission as \u2018Bomb Squad\u2019 defuses Wallabies onslaught<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Racing 92 have once again shown their willingness to splash the cash after they reportedly launched an audacious…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":92183,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[29928,64,63,818,1182,1736,44,760,85,68429],"class_list":["post-92182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-ardie-savea","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-top-14"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}