Top 14 finalists Perpignan have emerged as favourites to sign Stade Toulousain's want-away fly-half Frédéric Michalak.

The 26-year-old is said to be disillusioned with his lack of opportunities at Stade Toulousain and is seeking a summer move away to enhance his international prospects.

Fellow Top 14 club Bayonne and Heineken Cup champions Leinster are also reported to be interested, as well Australia's Western Force.

But Perpignan now appear to be Michalak's most likely destination as they seek to sign a permanent replacement for Dan Carter.

Michalak still has two years left on his contract but it seems Stade Toulousain could be open to offers, with head coach Guy Noves considering turning centre Florian Fritz into a reserve fly-half, if required.

Discussions between Perpignan and Stade Toulousain are said to be ongoing, with an announcement expected within the next few days, despite Michalak's agent insisting the player will see out his current contract.

Michalak has struggled to cement a starting place with the French giants this season after re-signing following a season away with the Sharks in South Africa.

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The versatile international can play either scrum-half or fly-half, but his opportunities have been limited this year due to the combined form of Byron Kelleher, David Skrela and Jean-Baptiste Elissalde.

And when he has played his form has been inconsistent, leading to him being continually overlooked by France coach Marc Lièvremont, who views him primarily as a No 9.

The 50-times capped star didn't even make it on to the stand-by list for Les Bleus' summer tour to New Zealand and Australia, slipping down in the pecking order behind Morgan Parra, Sebastien Tillous-Borde, Julien Dupuy and Dimitri Yachvili.

Stade Toulousain are not usually in the business of letting top quality players go, and Noves had previously said he had "absolutely no intention" to allow Michalak to leave. The player himself claimed the red and black of Toulouse ran through his veins when he returned the club at the start of the season, but with only limited game time it appears that bond is now weakening - on both sides.

His goal-kicking has been poor this season, leading the Toulouse-born player to be booed by his home crowd on several occasions.

If the Perpignan deal fails to materialise it appears that Bayonne - who want to sign Michalak as a scrum-half - would then be the players' favoured destination. But he would obviously prefer to sign for the Catalans as they regularly reach the Top 14 play-offs and carry a far higher profile than Bayonne, who failed to qualify for next season's Heineken Cup.

In a separate development big-spending Toulon are today rumoured to be keen on signing former IRB player of the year Bryan Habana.

The Springbok winger is out of contract with the Bulls in October and Toulon president Mourad Boudjellal now wants to add Habana to the capture of Jonny Wilkinson, according to reports on rugbyrama.com today.