In a game of musical chairs, the situation of the scrum halves in Bayonne, Toulouse or Perpignan could change in the coming hours. Explanations.
Officially, the transfer market will end on June 30th at midnight. While most clubs are almost finished with building their squad for next season, several teams are waiting for the number 9 position. According to our information, Stade Toulousain has been closely monitoring the situation of Japanese international Naoto Saito (26 years old). The Pink City is no stranger to him, since his selection had set up its base camp in Toulouse, during a World Cup that saw the player shine. Why did the Red and Black management look into the case of the Tokyo Sungoliath player, who reportedly expressed the wish to experience a new adventure?
The file is complex since Antoine Dupont, Paul Graou, Baptiste Germain and Arthur Retière (who can help out in the scrum) are all under contract next season. Except that Germain is on the Aviron bayonnais tablets. He even visited the Jean-Dauger facilities on June 6. Germain (23 years old), who had been approached by Toulon a few months ago and who would not be opposed to the idea of taking on another challenge, is not insensitive to the Bayonne project. He knows the Basque Country, since he wore the colors of Biarritz olympique between 2022 and 2023. The problem so far? Is that, if Toulouse were to agree to release him, it would be on the condition that Bayonne writes a check to buy out his last year of contract. However, on the Aviron side, they would like to get the former international under-20 without having to pay compensation. However, things could quickly speed up.
Aprasidze vers Perpignan
If the sky and white leaders are therefore doing everything to obtain the early release of Baptiste Germain and have generally surveyed the market for scrum-halfs in recent months, it is of course because the question of the future of Gela Aprasidze arises (26 years). Arriving last year in Bayonne, the former Montpellier did not really establish himself as number 9. He only started one Top 14 match as a starter and only played 270 minutes. The experienced Maxime Machenaud and Guillaume Rouet were the incumbents. While young Hugo Camacho and Kléo Labarbe have signed for Béziers and Racing, Aprasidze could bounce back in Perpignan, as revealed Wednesday evening on Rugbyrama.fr. Usap was looking for a scrum half, and the CVs of Danny Care, Ali Price and Jake Gordon had been studied by the Catalan leaders. In the game of “musical chairs”, the lucky winner should be the Georgian international.
