England centre Manu Tuilagi was sacked by Leicester Tigers on Friday, following his decision not to sign a new contract on reduced terms in line with the league’s revised salary cap rules, the Premiership club said.
Tuilagi was stood down by the Tigers last week, along with Greg Bateman, Kyle Eastmond, Noel Reid and Telusa Veainu, after failing to reach an agreement with the club on pay.
“Leicester Tigers can confirm that the employment of each of Greg Bateman, Kyle Eastmond, Noel Reid and Manu Tuilagi, as well as Telusa Veainu... has now ended and they will no longer be playing for Leicester Tigers,” the club said in a statement.
Premiership clubs voted last month to reduce the salary cap from the 2021-22 campaign until 2023-2024, with the ceiling for senior players set at £5 million (€5.5m), down from £6.4 million (€7.2m), due to the impact of Covid-19.
Players were offered long-term deals on reduced terms with clubs looking to take advantage of a provision that sees only 75 per cent of the wages of a contracted player count towards the revised cap.
Leicester have said they estimated losing approximately £5 million in revenue due to disruptions caused by the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.
