Sarries opt for no additional marquee signing

Saracens plan to bypass English rugby's marquee player market this year and focus on home-grown players.

All 12 Aviva Premiership clubs can recruit an extra marquee player for next season, whose wages will not be included in a salary cap of more than £5m.

Saracens, though, do not intend to go down that road, with current squad strength highlighted by five members of their starting pack against European Champions Cup semi-final conquerors Clermont Auvergne being aged 25 or under and all England-qualified.

Mako Vunipola, Jamie George, George Kruis, Maro Itoje and Billy Vunipola were at the forefront of a brave and battling semi-final display in Saint-Etienne as English representation in this season's competition came to an agonising end.

"The fact Clermont and Toulon always seem to be in semi-finals or finals gives you an indication that they're pretty powerful," Saracens rugby director Mark McCall said.

"But if someone ever took the time to go through our squad properly and understand where they've come from and where they are now, you can develop your own and make players better.

"We believe that we do that, and that we give ourselves a chance in these competitions because of that.

"We know where we would like to improve our side, and we are prepared to wait for the right person to make that happen.

"We don't want to jump in and get 'a name' just because he is available post-World Cup.

"It has got to be someone who has got the right kind of ambition and hunger, not just looking to see out his career. We are very, very careful who we're going to spend that kind of money on.

"It is difficult because players talk and understand that this guy (marquee player) has got to perform if he's going to earn that kind of money. For us, we won't be bringing one in for next season.

"I think you are always looking for something to add, and we have got to keep an eye on our back-line, but our pack is developing just nicely and is going to be a force to be reckoned with for years to come.

"The fact that our pack is as young as it is, it's incredibly exciting for us to think that they could be the mainstay of the club for hopefully the next four or five seasons."

The Great Aukster wrote:Maybe they are sustaining several marquees already?

formerly known as Sam wrote:Beats me. Maybe Bath are the driving force behind that and Sarries are siding with them as part of some alliance.

It could of course be politics to try and cover up the fact that they've been playing fast and loose with the salary cap in previous years and are now being told to sort it out. Hence only squad signings despite the uplift in cap and number of marquee options.

Artful_Dodger wrote:Why do they want rid of the salary cap if they aren't bringing in big names?

quinsforever wrote:combined with the fact they are running a bigger operating loss than management expected.

so they do what all private clubs do. they keep costs under control, and look for their increased tv revenues to hopefully allow them to turn a profit.

seems pretty sensible to me.

oh wait, its only the usual irish who are incensed.

quinsforever wrote:if they make a profit the debt falls. if they make a loss the debt grows. so the amount of debt is in and of itself UTTERLY IRRELEVANT. i know you dont understand that i just though i would spell it out so others can appreciate this business truism.

lets put it in terms you can understand. ireland have a lot of goverment debt, and are currently running a c3% budget deficit. so what happens to their debt next year? answer it goes up by 3% of GDP (previous years budget deficit).

now, if ireland by not signing marquee whotsits, and with GDP growing from extra tv money, can start to turn a surplus, what happens to govt debt next year. yes, good answer, it starts to fall by the amount of the surplus.

debt has NOTHING to do with ongoing costs, especially if its an interest free loan. Debt increasing or decreasing depends on making operating losses or profits.

quinsforever wrote:you asked why they didnt sign an additional marquee player. and then linked it to the salary cap issue.

firstly marquee players and salary caps are EXPLICITLY UNCONNECTED. as in the former does not count in the latter.

secondly, not overpaying for marquee players makes it more likely that sarries might actually achieve an operating profit than not.

aukster go to bed. far too late for you to be discussing accounting.

quinsforever wrote:really. calling a tigers fan as witness for the prosecution does beg certain questions.

the two cannot be linked. impossible. not signing a 2nd marquee player, or signing steffon armitage as marquee player for GBP1m per annum HAS NO IMPACT ON THE SALARY CAP. NONE. MARQUEE PLAYERS ARE OUTSIDE THE SALARY CAP. Is that clear enough?

The Great Aukster wrote:AD - £41m in debt is "under control" in AP terms, it called creative accounting.