Racing 92 owner reveals Maro Itoje's mammoth salary demand

Saracens and England lock Maro Itoje priced himself out of a move to Racing 92 according to the club's owner Jacky Lorenzetti.

Lorenzetti revealed that he could not afford the asking price the England star wanted in order to avoid playing Championship rugby in 2020/21.

A number of Saracens' players have left the club on loan while others have made permanent moves away from the club. Maro Itoje is no different as he was weighing up loan options with a few clubs in France interested including Racing 92.

There were negotiations between the Paris based club and Itoje which, if successful, would have seen Itoje turning out against Saracens this weekend in the Champions Cup but those talks came to nothing.

Racing 92's owner was asked by rugbyrama.fr if Itoje was too greedy. He replied: “Yes, it was unplayable. You know, we weren’t the only ones at the time: Bordeaux, Lyon, Montpellier were all called upon. We were talking about a salary of €1million, that represented ten per cent of our payroll. We made the choice not to go any further.”

Itoje now looks set to spend a season in the Championship where he will look to help Saracens regain Premiership status.