Owen Farrell to come out of international retirement this summer after completing transfer

about his ongoing rivalry with Owen Farrell.

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French reports suggest a deal is close, with Racing agreeing to release the 33-year-old from the final year of his contract. While the Paris club originally wanted around £500,000, it’s believed a reduced fee of £350,000 has been agreed.

Farrell arrived in Paris last summer amid huge fanfare, but his Top 14 stint never lived up to the hype. Despite over 100 England caps and 1,000+ points to his name, the veteran fly-half struggled to find form. A disjointed half-back pairing with Nolann Le Garrec and the physical demands of French rugby left him chasing shadows.

Now, with Farrell requesting an early exit, Racing are ready to cut their losses.

The former England skipper is expected to return to North London in a hybrid player-coach role at Saracens — reuniting with his boyhood club and stepping into a leadership role off the pitch.

But that might not be the only twist in the tale.

Sources tell RUCK that Farrell could be in line for a shock England recall for this summer’s tour to the USA and Argentina.

While he’s not expected to reclaim the captaincy — George Ford is the favourite to lead — a return to the Red Rose would thrust him straight back into Lions contention.

Steve Borthwick will be short of fly-halves this summer with both Fin Smith and Marcus Smith named in the Lions squad.

Farrell has already been confirmed as part of 

Sky Sports' pundit team

 for next week’s British & Irish Lions vs Argentina clash in Dublin — but here’s the kicker: a strong England showing could put him in prime position for a mid-tour call-up when the Lions head to Australia.

From Paris exile to Lions bolter? Don’t count him out just yet.

Former England lock Attwood has opened up on the latest RugbyPass Offload

The Bath lock won the last of his 24 caps for England back in 2016, which could have a lot to do with his relationship with the current England captain.

He revealed: "On the pitch, I struggle a lot with Owen Farrell. We just don’t see eye to eye on a lot of things,

“He hates me with a passion. Despite my earthy roots, he thinks I am a posh c***. He hates that. I bagged rugby league once jovially. I was saying it to take the piss kind of thing, ‘a bloody sport for the peasants’. He f**kin’ hated it."

"He had a bit of a shout at me and went off to the toilet and I followed him.

“We all had a drink or two after the game but we didn’t need to get carried away with this. I was in the urinal behind the door and he was three or four down and as I got in his dad walked in as well, he was coaching at the time. He was, ‘I don’t want to fuckin’ hear it’ or something like that and as he walked out he went to open the door and slam it into the back of me. There was like a stop on the floor so it hit the stop and almost clocked him back…

“We never really addressed it after that. That was where it started and it was like a drunken little bit of argy that went too far. He is an incredibly competitive athlete and he is also very f**kin’ good, he has got high standards. He is a very competitive athlete and in order to be that good, you have to flirt on the wrong side of competitive.

“So whenever we play each other there is always some element in the game where one of us is running at the other one or we are trying to bang each other. There always seems to be an element of that to it. I am sure he is like, I don’t even know that Dave is playing.”

The Scotland back-rower was the instigator in some tunnel argy-bargy when the players returned to the changing rooms after the warm-up back in 2018 with Farrell at the centre.

Footage of the incident shows all hell breaking loose when Farrell barged his way past a number of Scotland players to confront Wilson, who had been attempting to get inside the head of George Ford.

Wilson later revealed he was banned from Twickenham following the incident.

“I remember that game, I was actually injured and after tunnel-gate, after everything that happened in the tunnel against England, I’d lined up a corporate gig at Twickenham,” he recalled to Rugby Pass in November.

“Had it all lined up, a little bit of cash, all excited, only to get a message back saying the RFU have banned you from Twickenham Stadium after everything that happened the year before.

The pair have what we can only describe as a love-hate relationship. As legendary as the 'best mates' videos were during the 2016 tour of Australia, Farrell certainly didn't seem to be enjoying it.