Aviva Premiership Rugby Football Union club the Northampton Saints have refused to confirm they have clinched the deal to sign talented Welsh winger George North, despite the reports both in Wales and England suggesting that the youngster has decided to switch allegiances from the Scarlets to The Jimmies. The 20 year old has been linked to a cross Severn switch to the English club over the past one and half months and the Wales Rugby Union and the club has already been involved in a war of words over the future of the player.
North is one of the brightest young prospects to come out of the region in the last few years and was a key member of the Welsh side that won the Six Nations Championship in 2012 and 2013. But the Welsh rugby regions have struggling financially over the past couple of seasons and the WRU has accused the Scarlets of trying to make a profit by selling the player off to the Northampton Saints. The WRU has also accused the club of touting him to several high profile clubs all over Europe in order to spark a transfer tug of war.
However, the Welsh club has denied these claims from the WRU and has stated they had offered the player an improved three year deal to keep him at the club and the deal still stands. Since then, the WRU has invited all the four regions to a meeting as they attempt to thrash out a deal that will see players centrally contracted.
But it seems the player will already have signed with the Northampton Saints before the four regions sit down with the WRU for a meeting over securing the long term futures of the talents of the country to improve the game at home.