{"id":455918,"date":"2026-03-03T20:59:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T20:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/455918\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T20:59:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T20:59:10","slug":"faf-de-klerk-transfer-saga-nears-completion-with-deal-almost-signed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/455918\/","title":{"rendered":"Faf de Klerk transfer saga nears completion with deal almost signed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Faf De Klerk is on the verge of completing a sensational move back to South Africa<\/a> to join the Cheetahs<\/a> after snubbing a return to his former club, Gallagher PREM outfit Sale<\/a> Sharks.<\/p>\n

Sources in South Africa have told RugbyPass that the Springboks scrum-half is finalising what is believed to be a two-year deal to join the Free State side when his contract with Japanese club Yokohama Canon Eagles<\/a> ends in June.<\/p>\n

De Klerk, who has been part of the Springboks side that have won back-to-back World Cups, became a cult figure among Sharks<\/a> fans, making over 100 appearances in a five-year stint before moving to Japan<\/a> four years ago.<\/p>\n

He also had talks with Top 14<\/a> strugglers Perpignan<\/a> about a move there in the summer, but they moved on to former Ireland<\/a> international Luke McGrath<\/a> after failing to agree on personal terms.<\/p>\n

De Klerk, who will be 35 in October, had set his heart on a return to South Africa to be closer to the family of his wife, Min\u00e9, who have a farm in Postmasburg and close friends in Bloemfontein.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

South Africa <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

England <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Cheetahs, who have returned to financial stability under a consortium of local businessmen, have put together a strong offer even though De Klerk could have earned more money by returning to Sale.<\/p>\n

De Klerk could have played his last game for the Japan Rugby League One<\/a> club after being de-registered following an ankle injury suffered while tackling Shizuoka Blue Revs wing Valynce Te Whare in December.<\/p>\n

And his decision will send Alex Sanderson back to the drawing board as he looks to replace England<\/a> international Raffi Quirke<\/a>, who is moving to the North East next season to join Newcastle<\/a> Red Bulls.<\/p>\n

Sanderson has been busy in the transfer market, making seven new signings ahead of next season, and De Klerk\u2019s return would have been welcomed both on and off the pitch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Faf De Klerk is on the verge of completing a sensational move back to South Africa to join…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-455918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}