England rugby star Owen Farrell felt 'nervous' over leaving Saracens
Owen Farrell said on Wednesday he felt "nervous" at telling Saracens he wanted to leave, having been associated with the English Premiership club since he was a teenager.
French side Racing 92 announced last month that former England captain Farrell will join them at the end of the season on a two-year deal.
Moving to Paris will make the flyhalf ineligible for England selection as the Rugby Football Union prevent players at foreign clubs being chosen for international duty.
The 32-year-old Farrell, England's record points-scorer and a veteran of 112 Red Rose tests, had previously announced he would miss this season's Six Nations in order to prioritise the mental well-being of both himself and his family.
That followed a difficult time for Farrell at last year's World Cup, where was booed by his own fans and subjected to social media abuse as England finished third at the showpiece event.
Saracens, with whom Farrell has won six English Premiership titles and three European Champions Cup crowns, said on Wednesday the "most important thing" was for the playmaker to put himself and his family's well-being first.
๐ง๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ธ ๐ฌ๐ผ๐, ๐๐ฎ๐ โค๏ธ๐ค
โ Saracens Rugby Club (@Saracens) February 28, 2024
We can today confirm that @owen_faz will leave the club at the end of the season.
๐ฑ๏ธ https://t.co/DYjtrZkQTX#YourSaracens๐ซ pic.twitter.com/rMl54eviff
"It's tough leaving a place that has been my home since I was 14," Farrell said in an interview published on Saracens' account on X, formerly Twitter.
"It has been a difficult decision but it is an exciting one for our family. It has never been something we have thought about before, doing anything different.
"But for the first time ever we thought it would be good to go and experience something different and the time feels right."
"๐๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ.
โ Saracens Rugby Club (@Saracens) February 28, 2024
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ญ๐ถ๐ฃ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ค, ๐ช๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ."#YourSaracens๐ซ pic.twitter.com/ZdSWxIWg4R
Farrell, the son of former England dual-code international turned Ireland coach Andy Farrell, added: "I was nervous about having some conversations, even bringing it up, because it's never been thought about, let alone discussed before.
"But once we got into the conversations they were easy to have because of the calibre of the people here.
"The club have been fantastic with us throughout this year and it really counts for something when they care about nothing but the person."
Farrell, set to make his 250th appearance for the club next month, said the aim now was to finish his time with Saracens in style.
"I want to enjoy the rest of this year. It has never been taken for granted playing for this club. People stay here for a long time, as a lot of us have," he said.
"Going in to the back end of the year we are looking to make it the best we can. I can't wait to enjoy that over the coming months."
๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐๐ฃ ๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ง๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ.
โ Saracens Rugby Club (@Saracens) February 28, 2024
We couldn't agree more, Mark ๐ซก#YourSaracens๐ซ pic.twitter.com/9HnaDpLgki
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