Maro Itoje signs new Saracens contract, rejects interest from French clubs
Maro Itoje agreed a new contract with Saracens on 21 October 2026, committing his future to England and turning down interest from Top 14 clubs in France.
Itoje’s previous deal, signed in 2024, had been due to expire after the World Cup next year, but the 31-year-old has signed an extension with the club he first represented in 2013, a deal believed to run until 2029. Moves to Perpignan or Bordeaux had been mooted before the agreement was announced. Saracens are undergoing a period of transition with Brendan Venter at the helm for a second time, and the club described the signing as a boost.
“He is staying,” Venter said of Itoje. “He has agreed with the owner. It’s brilliant of Maro, Maro is everything we want at the club. He’s an unbelievable human being, he’s a brilliant leader, he’s such a good rugby player, I’m so glad the owner and him could agree terms.”
Itoje was rested for England’s summer Tests against South Africa, Fiji and Argentina after showing signs of fatigue throughout the season on the back of several gruelling campaigns. He has 102 caps and, the club said, the extension will enable him to continue his international career.
He has made more Test appearances than any other player in the world game since his international debut in 2016 and revealed last month that this summer he had enjoyed his first full pre‑season with Saracens since 2014. “He’s always got energy so Maro’s been so good in the pre-season for us,” Venter said. “We’re lucky because Maro is always developing.”
Itoje has previously been linked with a move to France and was said to have explored the option of going to the Top 14 on loan when Saracens were relegated in 2020; speculation about a lucrative move across the Channel resurfaced because of his workload in recent seasons. He was also linked to the mooted R360 breakaway league and said at the time that “playing for England is the mecca”.
Itoje was among the first tranche of players to receive an enhanced England contract worth £150,000 in 2024 and has remained in the selected group; it is understood none of the existing deals go beyond the World Cup in Australia next year.
Separately, South African rugby authorities said Lions lock Hyron Andrews’s death was caused by an aortic dissection, a tear in the body’s main artery. The former Sale player died at the team hotel last Friday, a day before the Lions played La Rochelle in the European Champions Cup, a game that went ahead in honour of the 31-year-old; French media reported Andrews was found unconscious in a shower cubicle at a hotel on the Île de Ré where the team had been staying.
The new Saracens contract secures Itoje’s club future and, by keeping him with an English club beyond his previous expiry date, preserves his availability for national selection; it remains to be seen whether Steve Borthwick will still be in charge of the England side but either the national head coach or his successor is to benefit.