Eels captain Clint Gutherson has been offered a deal to return to Manly, according to Fox Sports.

With Parramatta's contract talks with the star fullback stalling, the Sea Eagles have swooped into the conversation.

NRL 360 co-host Paul Kent announced the news on Monday night.
“Not great news for Eels fans,” Kent told Fox Sports. 

“Manly are of the belief they’ve got a pretty strong chance of signing him,” Kent said.

“He’s a Manly junior, he played at Manly until getting release a couple of years ago when he kept getting the knee reconstructions - he had a couple of them back to back - which made them think it might be time to let him go.

“But they’ve always had a high regard for him.

“I think that now the club is in a little bit of a rebuild stage, and the way Parramatta has mishandled this whole negotiation, the Sea Eagles are back in the fight.”

Gutherson told reporters that his contract disputes were not affecting on-field performances.

“No, we play a professional game,” Arthur said when pressed on the issue following the loss to the Knights.

“These blokes get paid to be professionals and roll up every week and put their bodies on the line and that’s why I was proud of them today. “We’ve got to do it again next week.”

21 COMMENTS

  3. If King G agrees with manlys terms, it will become a bit awkward at parra. That plus the extra cap manly has with the d walker saga, Gutho could be back at Manly very soon.

  4. My god Kent is a cranky little man. Played half a game for Parra then got hooked because he was awful and never played again. He is still carrying on like a baby after all these years.
    In no way at all has Parra mismanaged contract negotiations with Gutherson. They made him a reasonable offer which they have since increased twice. Guths problem is his grubby little manager Sam Ayoub. He has got it into Clints head that he is worth rep quality money. Clint has had two major ACL injuries and is one solid tackle away from a third.
    I would like him to stay at Parra but not for the kind of money his manager wants. I am glad the club will no longer pay overs for players. Guth can take the offer and play every home game at a world class stadium or re sign with the shegulls and at every home game on a poor excuse for a Stadium namely lottoland goat track. If he goes back to the goat track he will do his knee again within the first month.
    Kent can keep pushing his best mat Sam Ayoub’s agenda but he needs to remember there are 100 Guthersons out there looking for a starting fullback roll. At Parra he is the king. At manly he will be that guy who plays with DCE and the Trbojevic brothers.

  5. So you think eels offer is fair???
    450k a year for club captain and the man yourself called “king”
    That’s rude and shouldn’t be trying to lowball your most important and club captain that is mishandling…
    He shouldn’t be on 750 a season now, but he’s worth 600k for 2 years with upgrade in 2021 to 750 and throw in rep bonuses.
    Eels last offer of 525 over 3 years is what their first offer should of been not there last revised offer.
    I’ve heard he is signing for manly for 4 years and will only cost us 50k a season more then Dylan walkers money already we pay and he will be let go. Whilst walker is a better centre then gutho he is way more versatile and with injuries and lack of depth we have gutho means more then walker

  7. Complete mismanagement by the Eels.

    Why else would the Eels be so quick to make 3 offers…

    If it was planned… Sure looks like the most ridiculous planned recruitment strategy I’ve ever heard of. Lowball the captain in front of the media, then counter offer out of fear of losing the captain, then counter offer again when he goes to market.

    Great management of the negotiations. Ha ha ha ha.

    Then Moses has a good game against the Tigers and Parra club ups it’s offer… It’s pathetic how bad it is.

    Eels new recruitment strategy is a horrible horrible joke…. Who is in charge? It’s laughable.

  9. “looks like the most ridiculous planned recruitment strategy I’ve ever heard of.” Really? I can think of worse, but I’ll come back to that.
    I don’t think we’re offering enough, especially as we’re playing him at FB and he’s our captain, but the club has been pretty consistent, in that (I believe) it was 2 years at $450K (year 1) + $500k, then 2 years at $500k, and finally 3 years at $500K or $530K p.a. That would indicate the club thinks he’s worth around $500K p.a on a relatively short deal (2 or 3 years only). That certainly seems in the realms of “normal” negotiations, and I’d strongly suspect the “leaking” of these amounts/terms on the ongoing basis wouldn’t have come from the club.
    Slightly more consistent than signing him for 2 years (whilst injured) on a fraction of that amount, then shopping him around so as to increase DCE’s offer from around $600K – $700K p.a for 3-4 years to $1.3 mil p.a for 8 years, and now offering close to $600K, probably to play centre or utility. .

  11. Perfectly handled by the club. Kent is the biggest germ. Get him off our screens.
    FYI – Parra were wooden spooners last year.

  12. Fair(ish) call Screaming.
    As per my comment above, I don’t think we’re offering Gutho enough, but this is the last year of Jennings’s backended deal, and the $450K was year 1 of a 2 year deal worth $950K.
    That said, it’s hard not to notice the difference in management styles at Parra over recent years.

  13. Where will he even play at Manly. He said he wants to play fullback start of the year he won’t get that at Manly. He will most likely be playing centre which is fine but those knees are very weak and he wouldn’t last long going up against the likes of Kata, Mitchell, Fonua, Leilua, Takarangi, Blake to name a few, on a weekly basis. Don’t think he’s worth the money either. Parra should be fair and pay him 650k and increase it by 50k each year over 3 years and include rep bonuses. He’s best served as a fullback and at Parra.
    As for Manly why don’t you target someone less likely to end their career in 1 tackle and someone who actually plays centre the role you want. Someone such as Kata, Jennings, O’Neil for example.

  14. Yeah, I agree with some of that.
    If he agrees to come to Manly he realises his role is centre. I believe this position will have the least stress on his knees.
    But with the injuries we always seem to have, his true value will be realized as he can slot in seamlessly to a lot of positions.

  16. So Des is leaving Manly already?
    Based on him “playing where Dessie puts him” and the mention of a premiership ring in the same sentence.
    WOW, are doing it this year (dumping Dessie) and running 3 head coaches for 2019?

  18. Gutho can see the writing on the wall and he knows he will never win a premiership hanging around at the eels. Just ask all their players over the last 33 years what they should have done. Its clear manly will deliver another premiers trophy within the next 3 years

  19. Gutho is only worth 600k the max the amount of injuries this guy has had over the years drops the value, plus he has lost a lot of speed with those knee injuries

    600k for over 3 years IMO

  20. If anyone did deliver a Premiership Ring, it would be Blacktown Workers & Westfield Sports High . Not Manly.

  21. So Kent sounds a lot like you with Penrith Kev / 2041.
    Did you play half a game at some level there & get hooked for having no talent?

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