https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/ar...hs-on-four-year-contract-20200106-p53p6y.html
Latrell Mitchell's contract saga looks to be anything but over after the Rabbitohs declared their main focus has shifted to getting newly signed Jai Arrow to Redfern this season.
On Monday, Souths announced the signing of Titans forward Arrow on a four-year contract from the 2021 season. But South Sydney general manager of football, Shane Richardson, said any potential talks with star centre Mitchell would need to take a back seat as the club puts their energy into securing Arrow immediately.
Everyone is shouting from the rooftops and I don't quite understand why," Richardson said. "At the end of the day, he is not my priority at the moment."
"We will worry about him once our priority is sorted out, and that's Jai Arrow."
The Titans are holding out on an early release for Arrow and are reportedly warming to the idea of a transfer fee and player swap in return. Richardson said it was a decision "for Gold Coast to make".
After being granted leave of absence from the Roosters when they returned to training on Monday morning, Mitchell was reportedly looking to take his chances on a one-year deal with South Sydney on around $400,000 for 2020.
The initial salary is a far cry from his initial asking price of $1 million a season, but the idea was to secure a longer-term contract at the end of the season if the Rabbitohs can move players on from Redfern.
Richardson said the club's major focus has now turned to securing Arrow as a much-needed replacement for Sam Burgess in 2020.
Jai Arrow was exactly what we wanted recruitment wise," he said."I'm not worried about [Latrell] at the moment . . . once we know what is going on with [Arrow] then we will make a decision based on what money we've got left over and what we can and can't do."
The future of Mitchell at Redfern looks to be even more uncertain when looking at the Souths line-up for 2020.
We've got a plethora of backs, and they're not just backs, they're quality backs.
Shane Richardson
While the signing of Arrow was said to be "critical" to the side's forward pack, Richardson said he is comfortable with his current backline.
Roosters coach Trent Robinson said in November he believed his centre was on the hunt for a club that would play him at fullback.
We've got a plethora of backs, and they're not just backs, they're quality backs," Richardson said.
Since the Roosters withdrew a two-year contract extension for 2021 and 2022 at the end of October, Mitchell has been in talks with Wests Tigers, North Queensland, the Titans and the Rabbitohs over his future.
Despite withdrawing their offer in November, the Tigers say they are still interested in securing Mitchell. And despite signing Valentine Holmes on a multi-million dollar six-year deal, the Cowboys also say they are still "in talks" with Mitchell.
"At the end of the day, he's got to be happy. And he's got to be playing football where he wants to play. Whether that's at Souths or at Wests or wherever it is, I don't know. But all I know is, I don't think it's unfair for him to take his time to make his mind up," Richardson said.
Richardson said the reality of the situation was "far bigger" than just "putting Latrell in a Souths jersey" and that he hadn't even met the Roosters centre yet.
"Once [the Arrow situation] is done, we will just sit down and take our time and think of what we need, so we don't waste the money and make sure we spend the money wisely."
