Ireland captain Paul O’Connell is keen to follow in the footsteps of Conor Murray and sign a new deal with Munster amidst uncertainty over his contract with the IRFU.
Murray put to bed any talk of a move abroad by putting pen to paper on a two-year deal with Munster yesterday, but there are still a handful of players whose future has yet to be sorted out, such as Sean O’Brien and Jamie Heaslip – both of whom are believed to be highly coveted in the Top 14 – Donnacha Ryan Keith Earls, Rory Best and O’Connell himself.
O’Connell has been such a huge presence for Munster and Ireland over the years that it would be hard to see him leave, but he has spoken in the recent past about the possibility of playing abroad and, as is the case with the others, the IRFU risk losing him abroad if they don’t pay the market value for his services.
Munster fans will be relieved to know that O’Connell intends on staying put and while he admitted that negotiations were ‘delicate,’ he seemed hopeful of coming to an arrangement sooner rather than later.
“Hopefully [I will sign a new Munster deal],” O’Connell is quoted as saying in The Irish Times.
“Look my contract – I’m trying to figure out my future at the moment and it is kind of delicate. It’s not something I want to discuss. I don’t really know.
“I’d probably like to play up to the next World Cup and that season as well. I’d see where I am after that. If the body is in good shape I’d like to keep going after that. It all depends.
“I enjoy it more than ever, I enjoy the training more than ever, which is probably one of the most important things with guys I’ve seen coming to retirement. They are enjoying the matches and the big days, but they are not necessarily enjoying the training and the preparation that goes into it.
“Hopefully I’ll play that season to the World Cup and after the World Cup I’ll see after that.”
O’Connell is 34 now and will be touching 36 by the time the World Cup rolls around, but having suffered rotten luck with injuries in recent years, he has been back to his old self of late and is showing no signs of age with his performances in the red of Munster and the green of Ireland.
Of all the players whose future is yet to be sorted out O’Connell is probably the last that one could imagine leaving, but Munster fans will be waiting until a new deal is signed before breathing a sigh of relief.
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