Henry Pollock has said that he is “open to every opportunity” with the England back rower yet to sign a new contract with Northampton Saints.
Pollock’s deal with the Gallagher Prem club is due to expire at the end of this season and, while The Independent understands that talks are progressing well and there is confidence at Saints that he will re-sign, the 21-year-old is yet to agree terms.
The youngster was described as a £1m player by Eddie Hearn, who oversees his commercial deals under his Matchroom agency, though is expected to be in line for a deal worth around £450,000 a year.
Pollock insists, though, that is keeping an open mind, hinting that he hopes to play abroad and potentially try another sport in the future.
“I’m very much at the minute working through different scenarios and different avenues I can take,” Pollock explained. “The big thing for me is making sure that my management are happy with it and they’re doing all that stuff.
“I’m open to every opportunity. I’m not going to say no to stuff that I think will be good for my career and good for me. I’m very young but I’m still very open to lots of new things.
“Obviously, Northampton’s been so great to me. I’ve stayed here, I’ve been here my whole career and they’ve made me who I am. For me to stay here would be so special. Obviously, I know it’s not as easy as that and I know there’s lots of moving parts that come into play.
“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. I’ll be open to doing different things, selfishly I think it’s down to me at the end of the day. I definitely want to go and live in different countries, explore new sports, explore new avenues. 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.”
Pollock, who did not specify which other sports he might wish to explore, became Matchroom’s first rugby client when he signed with Hearn’s agency in March, though his contract with Northampton does not fall under their purview.
The player insisted that the promoter’s declarations about his value were a good thing.
“I don’t see it as pressure,” Pollock stressed. “I see it as him doing his job.
“He’s the best sports promoter in the world. The reason he’s the best is because he gets his client what he deserves.If he’s saying that about me then for me it’s just noise.
“Eddie’s been great for me and he’s given me so many avenues to get into. The way that he can give me access to loads of different stuff has been amazing. I have no bad words about him. The sport of rugby needs to change and hopefully this is a change.”
Northampton are due to open their Prem campaign against the Newcastle Red Bulls next Friday. Director of rugby Phil Dowson is hopeful that Pollock’s deal is done soon.
“We’re getting closer. 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.
“It would have been good to have it sorted three weeks ago but that’s the case across the board. There’s lots of guys out of contract and that can be weighing in the back of their mind in how we managed and how we talk to them and their agents. What I’m always impressed by is with how professional the lads are in terms of still having a job to do. The best way of getting paid is to play well so that’s what we expect the lads to do.”
