Giteau visiting Racing

Editor

Matt Giteau has been told to enjoy the empty stadiums by Toulon boss Mourad Boudjellal if he makes a lucrative switch to Racing Métro.

Matt Giteau has been told to enjoy the empty stadiums by Toulon boss Mourad Boudjellal if he makes a lucrative switch to Racing Métro.

The Parisian club are rumoured to be after the former Australia star, and want to make him the first million euro rugby player in attempt to lure him from Toulon.

Giteau has been with the club in the south of France since 2011, helping them to back-to-back Heineken Cup wins, as well as, a first Top 14 title in two decades last season.

He's currently on the sidelines with injury, as Toulon find themselves short of fly-halves, and it appears that the problem could be more serious with Giteau having now visited Racing's state-of-the-art facilities.

There has been a great deal of friction between Boudjellal and his Racing counterpart Jacky Lorenzetti in recent weeks with the latter claiming Toulon are breaching the salary cap, while Boudjellal mocked Lorenzetti for his lack of success.

And with the news that Toulon might lose their most influential player over the last two seasons, Boudjellal took advantage to take aim at Racing's poor attendances.

“I know he's been in contact with Racing Metro who made him an offer of one million euros,” Boudjellal told Var Matin.

“Matt has been to visit their training facilities which are very impressive. It's an attractive club.

“If he wants to sign for Racing, so be it. If he signs for Toulon, we'll be happy to keep him.

“And if he does go, maybe it's because he likes empty stadiums.”

The loss of Giteau would be a huge blow for Toulon, with the last three games showing how important he is to the French champions' backline.

However if he does swap the south coast for the suburbs of the capital, Boudjellal explained that he might look at a major overhaul of his squad.

“I've come to think that we should start on a new cycle, and we'll be looking to bring in six, seven or eight new players,” he added.

“That's a fallback solution. A new team wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. Both ideas work for me.”