Boudjellal to make Cooper “as poor as Greece”

Will he, won’t he? Quade Cooper’s on/off move to Toulon has been the greatest transfer saga in a summer that has been saturated with them (compared to a regular rugby off-season, at any length).

The latest instalment of this sitcom-like episode has been a bizarre war of words in which Toulon owner Mourad Boudjellal launched a relatively tasteless tirade against the ARU and its prized asset Cooper, whom he threatened would end up as “the second most indebted State after Greece”.

The eccentric Frenchman said that the €150,000 that has been mooted as Cooper’s buyout of his contract was in fact for the promise of a contract – Boudjellal claims that Cooper has actually put pen to paper, which would make that void, and has allegedly threatened legal action if Cooper does not show up for his medical soon.

Boudjellal told Midi Olympique: “The moron of the Australian federation who does not understand the case needs to know that the promise of employment is no longer the question.”

“€150 000 was to pay for the release of the promise of a contract, but Cooper has signed his contract – I can produce it if necessary. The contract promise is now obsolete. At the present time, if Cooper withdraws, he will have to pay the amount of the contract! It could make him alone, the second most indebted State after Greece!”

Australia coach Michael Cheika, meanwhile, has hit back at Boudjellal for using the state of Greece as a joke to make his point.

“I don’t think it’s necessary to have that type of language,” Cheika told the Sydney Morning Herald on the Wallabies’ arrival home from Argentina on Tuesday night.

“[I’m told] he said they’re going to be as broke as Greece. Well, I don’t think that’s an issue to be joking about, to be honest. There’s a lot of people struggling over there. So I don’t think it’s very funny, saying any of that type of stuff.

“He’s entitled to say what he likes about what he wants to do. That’s fine, but I don’t think those analogies are really necessary.”

Are you #TeamBoudjellal or #TeamCheika?

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