Lionel Nallet: Felt he needed a change after six years at Castres Photo: Michael Paler

France captain Lionel Nallet has denied his summer move to Racing-Metro 92 was motivated by money.

“I have been at Castres for six years, it is the end of a cycle,” he told French newspaper La Dépêche du Midi. “I was sort of on a treadmill,” he added.

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Nallet, 32, was unveiled by Racing last week – together with fellow French lock Sébastien Chabal – and explained that it was the challenge of moving to the ProD2 champions that attracted him.

“I do not consider myself as a mercenary, as they say in the jargon,” he said, insisting that his move would not jeopardize his international credentials as he intended to carry on playing for ‘Les Bleus’ until the 2011 World Cup.

And he denied that playing in the capital would be a distraction after spending his previous playing years at Bourgoin and Castres.

“Parisian life is not really for me, but the context of Racing is different. It is not in Paris itself, and if you do not want to go to Paris you don’t have to. We [Racing] are almost in a small town,” he said. “Anyone that wants the ‘Parisian life’ and all that goes with it can probably do so more easily from Castres. I’m certainly not going there for that.”

Nallet denied he was being paid the €500,00 per season salary reported in some sections of the press, but admitted that he would probably call time on his career after fulfilling his three-year contract with Racing.

The same newspaper has also claimed that ProD2 side Tarbes are facing an unexpected cash crisis after the DNACG – the league’s financial watchdog – discovered a €500,000 shortfall in the club’s budget for this season.

It claimed Tarbes must find the cash before a meeting with the DNACG on May 28, and said the revelation had come as something of a shock as club president Jean-Pierre Davant had recently announced he was expecting to increase next year’s budget up to €4m.

Elsewhere, Perpignan have admitted that Newcastle’s anticipated cash windfall from selling Jonny Wilkinson to Toulon had helped the Guinness Premiership side to outbid them in the race to sign Jimmy Gopperth.

The junior All Black had been on the Catalans’ radar for some time, but club president Paul Goze said Newcastle had outbid them for the 25-year-old.

“With the departure of Wilkinson the English club raised the bidding. We were no longer on the same wavelength,” he told L’Independent. Goze also said the player’s unavailability until the end of October – due to the National Provincial Championship in New Zealand – had proved a stumbling block.

Perpignan, who currently lead Top 14, remain in the market for a high quality fly-half as they seek to replace the departing All Black Dan Carter.

Toulon’s Czech winger Martin Jagr has confirmed he will be leaving the club at the end of the season as Philippe Saint-Andre continues his squad shake-up. Jagr was ProD2’s top try-scorer in 2007/8 when Toulon won promotion up to Top 14. He has been with the club since 2001.

Meanwhile, the anticipated raft of departures from relegated ProD2 outfit Béziers has already begun, with Romanian lock Christian Petre confirming he would be leaving at the end of the season.

The once-mighty Béziers are now destined for Fédérale 1 after being relegated together with Bourg-en-Bresse.

Finally, L’Equipe reported that the presidents of Toulon (Mourad Boudjellal), Perpignan (Goze), Racing-Métro 92 (Jacky Lorenzetti) and Brive (Daniel Derichebourg) were spotted dining together in Paris ahead of a forthcoming LNR meeting – prompting speculation one of them could be preparing a bid for the organisation’s presidency.

Goze denied revolution was in the air – “If this had been a coup, something against Pierre-Yves Revol, I would not go there,” he said – but confirmed they were unhappy about the league’s current television deal and the recently agreed player salary cap.

“I am for solidarity, not egalitarianism,” said Toulon’s Boudjellal.