Henry Pollock: Northampton star 'open to offers' as contract talks continue

Henry Pollock continues to play hardball in his negotiations over a Northampton Saints contract extension, insisting he is still open to offers from elsewhere, including overseas, and that he remains determined to be "quite selfish" over his future.

The 21-year-old England back row's current deal, thought to be worth about £150,000 a year, expires at the end of the forthcoming campaign.

Pollock added Eddie Hearn to his advisory team earlier this year and the boxing impresario upped the ante by claiming his new client was "a seven-figure player", whose current pay shocked him.

"Northampton's been so great to me, I've been here my whole career and they've made me who I am. For me to stay here would be so special," said Pollock.

"Obviously, I know it's not as easy as that and I know there's lots of moving parts that come into play. I'm very open to new opportunities and I'm very open to exploring that.

"I'm so young so I think it's only right that I assess those options and find the best decision for myself."

He added: "Your career is so short that you look back on yourself and you almost regret not exploring new avenues, exploring different things.

"I think for me, you almost have to be quite selfish in that aspect, think what's right for you. If that is staying here, then that's great, I'll be here for however long. If it's not, then I'll be open to new opportunities."

Salary cap rules, which prevent players moving between Prem clubs from being designated as 'marquee' players whose pay is exempt from a £6.4m squad limit, make a big-money move to one of Saints' domestic rivals difficult.

A move to a club in France or Japan would potentially be lucrative to Pollock, and a deal which began at the start of the 2027-28 season would not rule him out of contention for England's Rugby World Cup squad next autumn.

However, he would become ineligible for England once he begins playing overseas and would lose the central contract, worth about £150,000 a year, that currently tops up his club wages.

His off-pitch earnings - he has personal endorsement deals with various clothing brands - might also suffer away from the exposure of the Test arena and domestic rugby.

"I definitely want to go and live in different countries, explore new sports, explore new avenues," said Pollock.

"Again, that's all down to the management team. I'm just speaking to them loads and assessing my options and seeing what's right for myself."

Saints allowed club captain George Furbank to leave for Harlequins in the summer, conscious that a raft of young stars in their title-winning team were due a pay rise.

Fly-half Fin Smith agreed a new deal in October, while wing Tommy Freeman is in line for his own new deal this season. Scrum-half Archie McParland and prop Emmanuel Iyogun are also priorities to tie down to new contracts.

"We're getting closer," said director of rugby Phil Dowson on a deal with Pollock.

"As you can imagine, it's complex. There's a few moving parts that we need to put together, but I'm hopeful. As I said before, he wants to stay and we want to keep him.

"Obviously there's some negotiations going between that but those two things are very positive."