French giants Racing 92 are thought to be confident of convincing Owen Farrell to quit English rugby and move to Paris.
The Top 14 league leaders are thought to believe Saracens captain Farrell is ready to sign a deal to move across The Channel at the end of the season.
Racing took the rare move of issuing a statement denying any agreement with Farrell – but stopped short of rejecting any talks.
“Racing 92 is regularly under the aegis of numerous speculations concerning movements within its workforce,” read a club statement.
“We are delighted with the appeal of our club Racing 92. However, we deny any agreement concerning the English player Owen Farrell.”
Farrell stood himself down from England duty after the World Cup, relinquishing the Red Rose captaincy.
The 32-year-old became England’s record points-scorer in leading England to a third-place finish at the World Cup in France.
The 112-cap fly-half's England future has hung in the balance since his decision to step away from Test duty, however. England boss Steve Borthwick even admitted on Thursday that it was unclear whether Farrell would return to Test action.
The Red Rose head coach only revealed his hopes that Farrell would return after his break, to continue his already record-breaking England stint.
Farrell would be unavailable for selection for England should he opt to make the move to France and play for Racing. England continue to stick to their policy of not selecting overseas-based players, except in exceptional circumstances.
Farrell would not qualify for that exemption should he leave his sole club Saracens, given he also has the option to commit to both the north London club.
England would hand Farrell one of the RFU’s first hybrid contracts should he stay on home soil.
The long-serving playmaker would number among the first tranche of up to 25 “enhanced Elite Player Squad contracts”, to use the official RFU terminology.
Those deals will see England players receive a flat fee of up to £150,000 a season for playing Test rugby, payment that would top up their club salaries.
Farrell’s Test match hiatus was explained in part as an attempt to protect the mental health of both himself and his family. The England captain was booed frequently by sections of crowds at the World Cup, and social media criticism also took its toll.
Former England coach Stuart Lancaster has taken charge at Parisian giants Racing this term, and young Red Rose wing Henry Arundell is already flourishing at Racing. Arundell opted to sign a two-year contract extension at Racing rather than return to England with Bath and sign a hybrid RFU contract.
England and Borthwick fought hard to convince ex-London Irish star Arundell he should return to home shores, but the 21-year-old opted to stay put in Paris.
Arundell has put his own Test career on pause as a result, at a time when England and the RFU are battling to keep as many top players in the Premiership as possible.
