Tigers wary of ‘obscene’ Tuilagi offers
Leicester Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill admits that Manu Tuilagi has been offered "obscene amount of money" to leave.
Tuilagi's future has been a topic of discussion all week following reports of mega offers to acquire his services from Wasps and Worcester, reportedly for around £500,000 per season.
The 24-year-old England back hasn't played for over a year and isn't expected back in action until next year after a persistent battle with injury.
Cockerill re-iterated that Leicester have made Tuilagi a competitive offer to stay at Welford Road, but that an "obscene amount of money" from elsewhere could lure him to move elsewhere.
Saracens and Toulouse have also been linked with Tuilagi in the past.
“Clearly, there are people trying to lure him to smaller clubs than Leicester by offering him huge amounts of cash,” Cockerill told The Independent.
“I was under the impression that you weren’t allowed to speak to anyone until January, but c’est la vie.
"If you want to prise away a player like Manu, the only thing you can offer is obscene amounts of money. Then it’s a case of a player moving for that reason only. And Manu is 24. It’s not like he’s in his early thirties.
“We’d love him to stay and we’ve put our best foot forward by offering him a very good contract that would make him very well-paid in world terms.”