The Daly Cherry-Evans saga has taken another turn amid reports his management asked the club for an extension worth over $1 million a season for the veteran halfback.
Meanwhile, as the Sea Eagles scramble to find a replacement for their chief playmaker, Kieran Foran has shot down links to a Manly return, declaring he is happy where he is — at the Gold Coast Titans.
The Cherry-Evans bombshell landed on Monday when it was revealed he informed his teammates and club that he won’t be at Manly beyond this season.
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Sea Eagles CEO Tony Mestrov and owner Scott Penn contacted NRL 360 while the panel was live on air to publicly table a two-year offer to the 36-year-old.
Cherry-Evans officially rejected Manly’s extension offer with the club releasing a statement on Thursday afternoon.
Fox League’s James Hooper later revealed Cherry-Evans’ management had previously requested an extension — but at a similar price to the $1.2 million he’s earning now.
“Daly approached the Manly Sea Eagles about a formal release over 12 months ago so clearly there was some agitation, there was a little bit of butting of heads in terms of the amount of money that Manly were possibly going to be able to offer to try and retain their captain,’ Hooper told Fox League.
“The other big breaking news is that Daly’s management actually sought an offer in excess of $1.1 million from the Sea Eagles in order for him to remain at the Manly Sea Eagles.
“The Sea Eagles were unfortunately unable to come to the party with that — they’ve got salary cap constraints — but clearly money is a major factor in this decision.”
DCE officially declines Manly extension | 03:21
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Where Cherry-Evans will land is still very much up in the air, as is who will replace him at the Sea Eagles.
The likes of Jamal Fogarty and Foran have been linked to the club with the latter having won a premiership there in 2011.
But Foran told the Fox League panel on Thursday night that the links are pure “speculation” and at this stage he is “very happy” at the Titans.
When asked if he had any interest in returning to Manly, Foran said: “No — (it’s) purely speculation.”
“I’m very happy up at the Gold Coast at the moment, very comfortable there,” he added.
“Out injured and obviously need to focus on rehabbing my injury and then getting back on the park and playing some good footy.
“But as it stands today, I sit very comfortably up there.”
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