Northampton boss provides update on Henry Pollock contract talks after Eddie Hearn claim

Northampton Saints boss Phil Dowson has said that contract negotiations with Henry Pollock are going well – and that Eddie Hearn was simply doing his job by declaring his client worth at least £1m a season.

Pollock, one of English rugby’s brightest young talents, was the first signing from the sport to Hearn’s Matchroom agency earlier this year, with the boxing and darts promoter since looking to swell the 21-year-old’s commercial profile.

Hearn recently suggested that he had been in disbelief when he learned of the player’s existing salary, believed to be around £150,000, with the youngster’s deal due to expire next summer.

Northampton are currently in negotiations over a fresh contract for Pollock, with both the player and the Prem club keen to reach a long-term agreement after winning the title last year.

“I think it is very helpful,” Dowson said of Hearn’s comments. “Eddie Hearn has a job to do, and that is to promote his client and ask for more money for his client. He’s doing both of those very effectively. We’ve said we want to publicise and grow the game and he has the ability to do that.

“We still have to make decisions based on our budget and our financial situation. We’ll continue to do that in the best way possible. That is in discussion with agents, discussions with the group and discussions with the decision-makers about what we can afford and how we put a squad together, how that fits within our budget. Eddie Hearn is great for the game; we want to keep Henry Pollock. Fundamentally, nothing has changed.

“What he says is based on his job. My job is to try and fit 57, 58 players within a squad on a budget. I’ll continue to do that.”

Northampton managed to keep a number of key figures last season in a bumper contracting cycle, though club captain George Furbank has joined Harlequins.

Dowson is hopeful that the close-knit squad at Saints will provide an advantage when it comes to keeping Pollock.

“It is going well,” he said of talks. “We are still pushing it through. What Eddie Hearn also said, and people have gone straight to the million pound remark, but the other thing he said is that Henry wants to win stuff, Henry wants to stay at Saints, Henry wants to play with that group of players. He wants to win the World Cup. I embrace that. I am all for that. The appetite is for him to stay. Now, we’ve got to find a happy medium. We really want to keep him, he really wants to stay, and that’s a great start.”