English Premiership giants Wasps have claimed they simply could not compete financially with the Scarlets after the Welsh team announced the signing of All Black Vaea Fifita.
It's an eye-opening statement that will surprise many given the well-documented financial struggles of the Welsh regions.
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But English clubs are facing their own issues with changes to the salary cap in the competition only allowing a playing budget of £5m, plus one marquee player next season.
It means the 29-year-old lock, who has 11 caps for the All Blacks, is swapping Coventry for Llanelli from next season in what is a major coup for the Scarlets.
"It's disappointing I won't hide from the fact," Wasps coach Lee Blackett told CoventryLive.
"Vaea's been up front straight from the outset with myself, I couldn't have asked any more of him.
"I think when you understand the big picture and you see everything on paper and what he's been offered, I can't blame him. He's got to think about his family and that's the way of the Premiership at the moment, we just couldn't compete with the offer."
Fifita has been one of the English Premiership's most impressive signings this term, with his skill set and speed in the pack impressing observers.
"I can't emphasise that enough, how good he's been," said Blackett. "How he's adapted really well. It's exciting in terms of what we're going to have with him for the rest of the season.
"Unfortunately as you've seen with several clubs, at times you've got to lose players with the way the cap is and everything like that so it is what it is. But look we're excited to see how this season finishes, I'm not going to be too sad cause he's still a Wasps player at the moment so I'm pretty happy with that."
Fifita will link up with his former Hurricanes team-mates Sam Lousi and Blade Thomson at Parc y Scarlets. Fifita and Thomson were members of the Super Rugby title-winning squad of 2016.
Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel said: “We have signed a world-class player in Vaea and this is a real statement of our intent and ambition as a club. Vaea is a superb athlete, an X-factor player with the skill-set that fits with how we are looking to play at the Scarlets.
“He also brings a lot of experience at international and Super Rugby level as well as adding Test-match quality to our pool of second rows."
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