I think it's obvious Joel has an offer on the table and has probably made up his mind.



I think the hold up is Lenagan trying to negotiate as good a deal as possible with the RFU/Saracens. He's hopefully driving a very hard bargain. Due to the fact that if Joel goes Sam is more likely to follow this is a biggy. I'd be asking for 500k plus in compensation.

I think this reminds me of Eastmond at saints when his rumor first came to light...

I work with a girl who kissed this lad in town one night who happened to go to school with Logan and he asked Logan and he said that all 3 are going.

He's going. Wigan/IL are negotiating the release value. It'll all be sorted by this time next week if not before.

I wonder how Lenegan will go about valuing the loss of Joel. It'll probably just be a case of Lenegan trying to get a much as possible I presume.



Then it comes down to what we spend it on. I don't how beneficial it is for the players, but I'd like to see some of the money fund a trip down under for the juniors, similar to what Saints are doing at present. That sounds like a fantastic opportunity for the players involved, and is probably a big attraction for juniors to join Saints in the first place.

The value of his contract maybe. Assuming he's on c80k at 4 years that would be a tidy sum.

I would want the value of his contract and a fee on top. I get the feeling that IL will screw as much as he can out of the RU boys. Im interested to see what we do with the money.



If we got 400k or 500k thats our profit from the last year times 4 or 5. When put like that it sounds like a good deal imo. After all business is a huge part of sport nowadays.



I wonder where the money will be going? As it stands our wage bill must be a lot less than last season?

IL should not negotiate a deal with RU, he should state a reasonably high price at least £500,000 and stick with it, until it is paid or JT does not move. Lets havesome backbone if they want a player they should find the price asked

It all depends on the guy doing the negotiating i suppose. Youve got a guy who just names his price as above or youve got a guy who starts it high and works it down a bit and sometimes gets more.



We hold all the aces so im sure IL will be highlighting this and the fact that we dont have to or need to sell

I'd certainly want more then the value of his contract. The reasons are simple, firstly they have it, secondly there's not a great deal we can do with 'decent' figures and thirdly it gives them the cards in terms of trying to get Sam across as well at some point.



The last point is the big one for me. It makes a move to Union for Sam more then likely within the next couple of years and that's a very big bonus they must pay for.



I'd be asking minimum 500k for Joel.





As for Sam whenever that day comes I'd be asking for..............a crazy amount that would blow any figure paid for a player in both rugby codes out of the water.

Thats a big assumption, players , especially younger ones have contracts that scale up based on performances and number of games played etc.



Isnt the record fee for a Rugby player still what you lot got for Inga from Newcastle?

I'd be amazed if Joel didn't go. Why pull out of the England squad if he wasn't going?



I suspect we'll get less than the sort of figures being bandied about on this thread as a "transfer fee".



Joel's only on 80k, if he simply walks and starts playing for Sarries then the loss to Wigan arising from that breach of contract would be pretty small, it won't cost the club that much to get a player of similar quality in. If Wigan end up paying a new player more it won't be a lot more than the 80k they would have paid JT so the loss to Wigan (and therefore the damages payable by Sarries) will not be big.



I can't see a court granting an injunction banning him from playing for Sarries so the reality is that fairly modest damages would be paid.



Sarries will want to avoid a court case (it wouldn't help JT settle in, for one thing) so they will pay out more than they strictly have to. I'd expect a figure closer to 200k than 500k. I doubt we'll ever know though. Both clubs will want to keep it quiet.