Ryan Elias could become the latest international to leave Welsh rugby with the Scarlets hooker a target for several French clubs.
Star studded Racing 92 are believed to be the front runners for his signature but he is very much a man in demand across the channel, while one Gallagher Premiership side has also shown real interest in landing the 33 times capped Wales hooker.
The Scarlets are very keen to retain the 27-year-old who is a product of their development pathway and will do everything in their power to persuade Elias to stay in Wales.
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Wales Online understands Elias is unhappy with the salary band he has been placed in by the Welsh Rugby Union which will not help the Scarlets' chances of keeping him.
The Scarlets, like the other three Welsh sides, will have to cut their cloth accordingly next season to get in line with the purported £5m salary cap which is likely to be phased in over the next couple of years.
And the current freeze on recruitment and retention has damaged the regions’ chances of holding on to their best players.
They will be able to offer conditional contracts in January while the Professional Rugby Board attempt to finalise a six-year funding framework between the regions and the Welsh Rugby Union which has been verbally agreed, subject to any 11th hour amendments.
Elias was a regular for Wales under Wayne Pivac, winning 33 caps. However, any move outside of the four regions would make him ineligible for the national side.
Returning Wales head coach Warren Gatland has a problem on his hands as any player who has fewer than 60 caps and has signed for a club outside of Wales for next season will become ineligible for next autumn's Rugby World Cup.
Star second-row Will Rowlands, who has signed for Racing 92 falls into this bracket, while the likes of Dillon Lewis, Gareth Anscombe, and Rhys Webb are also attracting interest from English, French and Japanese clubs.
Gatland may have no choice but to ask the PRB for special dispensation to select some of these players for the World Cup.
The PRB is a joint body made up of all four regional chairs, WRU chief executive Steve Phillips and his finance director Tim Moss, along with two independent members in the shape of Malcolm Wall (chair), and Marianne Økland.
If Gatland does wish to amend the 60 cap law, the above PRB members will have to vote in favour or against.
Hooker is a position of reasonable strength in Wales, with Elias' Scarlets team-mate Ken Owens, Dewi Lake, Bradley Roberts, and Elliot Dee also in contention, but Gatland will want all his best players available to him.
There is a school of thought at the Scarlets that their squad is unbalanced, with the West Walians in desperate need of a rebuild following a poor season which has seen them win just once in the United Rugby Championship to date.
The Scarlets hierarchy want head coach Dwayne Peel to go with youth next season, but they have targeted strengthening the pack with quality overseas players particularly at tight-head and second-row, subject to the transfer embargo getting lifted.
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