According to reports, a South African side is willing to spend millions of dollars to recruit the Springbok World Cup winner.
The Sharks of Durban are prepared to pay a substantial release fee in order to entice Esterhuizen back to South Africa, but his present contract with the Premiership team Harlequins ends at the end of the 2024–2025 season. Having joined Harlequins in 2020, the 2023 World Cup winner has contributed to the team’s 2020–21 Premiership victory.
Exorbitant cost
Several clubs are still interested in Esterhuizen, even though he still has one season left on his deal. A number of Japanese teams have reportedly shown interest in signing him, but he turned down approaches from the French Top 14 team Toulon.
The Sharks want to bring the Springbok back on staff, but they must pay Harlequins a transfer fee of £500,000 (almost R12 million), according to an article published in the Afrikaans newspaper Rapport.
The story also states that Sharks executives remain optimistic about the center’s return to Durban in spite of the astronomical fee. Because Rohan Janse van Rensburg is leaving to join Bordeaux-Begles at the end of the season, the URC team is looking for an inside center.
After rejecting offers from the Bulls and the Durban-based team, Jan Serfontein, a Springbok, decided to stay at Montpellier for a further season. Reportedly, the sharks were interested in the springbok. South Africa is being “copied” by “weird” England, according to Springbok mythology.
Sharks are connected to another World Cup victor.
According to the report, the Sharks are also keen to recruit versatile prop Trevor Nyakane, so Esterhuizen is not the only 2023 World Cup winner they have been associated with. According to reports, Racing 92, where Nyakane is now playing, will not extend his contract.
The source claims that the Sharks and Bulls are in the running for the 34-year-old’s signature. With his playing career coming to an end, he wishes to go into coaching.