Manu Tuilagi, England and Lions center has left Leicester Tigers opting out of a new salary pay cut deal to be implemented by the premiership club.
In a video posted on the club website on Wednesday July 1, 2020 Andrea Pinchen, Tigers Chief executive confirmed that Tuilagi alongside Kyle Eastmond, Telusa Veainu, Greg Batemen and Noel Reid has left the club.
“Our fans deserve to know” which players had departed, before going on to name the five,” said Pinchen.
“There’s no blame game here, this is people we’re talking about,” she said.
“Everyone has their own circumstances and own thoughts about what they can or can’t do, or will or won’t do.
“What’s vital now is that we have a squad that’s all on board, believes in what we’re doing moving forward and starts to push forward,” he stated.
“If some couldn’t, then we wish them well, shake them by the hand and wish them well for the next chapter.
“It’s really no more or less sinister than that. It’s simply that we had to go down one path.
“The majority of people are going down that path with us and a handful couldn’t,” he added.
Premiership clubs voted on June 8 to cut salary from the 2021/2022 until 2023/2024 with top players to have their salary cut from £6.4m to £5m due the financial impacts of coronavirus.
Being one of the heavily hit clubs, Leicester has set a deadline of Tuesday for players to agree to the pay cut which would extend to the next season.
Players like George Ford and Ellis Genge are said to have earlier agreed to the pay cut before the Tuesday deadline.
The club disclosed that they have already recorded a revenue loss of about £5m pounds due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Tuilagi, 29 has one cap for the Lion and 43 caps for the England and he is currently at the peak of his games.
This season Leicester Tigers are 11th in the Premiership and are not going on relegation given that Saracens have been demoted to the Championship next season on the ground of breaching salary cap.
