Owen Farrell transfer saga starts to turn ugly as Racing outline terms

Saracens need to be quick if they want to do a fairytale deal for club legend Owen Farrell to make a sensational return to North London only a year after leaving to start a new life in France with Racing 92.

Farrell has endured a torrid season in the Top 14 and has told the Parisian giants that he wants to return to the Premiership despite having a year left to run on his contract.

Saracens, Leicester Tigers and Gloucester are the three Premiership clubs that have been linked with a move for the former England star, but there are plenty of hurdles for them all to overcome.

The biggest of which is that Racing 92 owner Jacky Lorenzetti, who splashed out £500k to release him from his Saracens contract last summer, wants some, if not all, of his money back.

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And in an effort to avoid a repeat of the Siya Kolisi saga, which saw months of wrangling before he secured a return to the Sharks last September, he is prepared to play hardball and will force Farrell to stay if a deal isn’t done this week.

Another obstacle to a deal is that Farrell, who still has a house near the Saracens training ground, would need to spend two years abroad before being allowed to come back as a marquee player.

Saracens boss Mark McCall declined to comment on reports when he held his weekly media call ahead of this weekend’s clash with Premiership leaders Bath.

“It’s just not worth answering, to be honest, because as far as I know, he is under contract at Racing and has a year left. There are so many of these stories that come out.

“As you know from me down the years, there is no point talking about something that is so pie in the sky. It’s ­better for me not to comment,” he said.