Harlequins have growing confidence that Danny Care will sign a contract extension to end his career at The Stoop.
Rugby director Billy Millard declared Care’s opportunity to sign off at Quins with a 19th season at the west London club.
The 37-year-old is understood to be being courted by French clubs Bayonne and Perpignan, but Care is also mindful of his wife Jodie’s career as a lawyer in Surrey.
The Cares also have three young children to weigh into the mix, with a lucrative final pay day on offer in France or a chance to sign off in style at long-term club Quins.
Care retired from Test rugby on Monday night, drawing the curtain at 101 England caps.
The all-action scrum-half made his senior Leeds debut in 2006 before switching to Quins that summer, where he has been a fixture ever since.
“Danny has some decisions to make and we left him alone during the Six Nations,” said Millard.
“But we are all very hopeful we can get there shortly.
“I think it would be an awesome thing for him to end his career here.
“You don’t see that much these days, especially from someone who started with us so young.
“I’ve only been a small part of it, but it would be fantastic for him and the club; that’s part of his thinking as well.
“We’ll be catching up each day now, but hopefully by next week we’ll be able to move forward.”
Millard believes Care’s string of top-level showings this season and his long-running understanding of Quins’ recent history render him irreplaceable.
“Danny provides so much and whenever you want to know something about Quins, what’s worked, what hasn’t, the DNA of the club or the stories, there are a couple of blokes around who can tell you, ‘eight years ago we did this’, or, ‘we should try this’.
“He has an amazing knowledge of how Harlequins ticks and all the ups and downs.
“You can’t replace that off the field and on the field he plays to our gameplan and he drives the group.
“You’ve got to be proactive and there are a lot of things you can do behind the scenes to find similar types of players. But to find similar types of people and personalities, you probably have to look a bit deeper, but we are onto that.
“It’s part and parcel of the cycle of rugby. You are going to lose these big characters and he’s not the only one.
“We need to make sure we have internal replacements or people coming in who provide similar on and off-field energy.”
