Tino Fa’asuamaleaui signs three-year contract with Gold Coast Titans

One of hottest young properties in NRL has cut ties with the Melbourne Storm, reneged on another deal and become a millionaire.

Tino Fa'Asuamaleaui has signed a three-year deal with the Gold Coast Titans

Teenage sensation Tino Fa’asuamaleaui has rejected a $2.7 million with the New Zealand Warriors, instead signing with the Gold Coast Titans, Fox Sports reports.

The 19-year-old young gun signed a three-year $2 million deal on Thursday, and will join the Gold Coast in 2021 after his contract expires with the Melbourne Storm.

It was earlier rumoured Fa’asuamaleaui had verbally agreed to a four-year deal with the Warriors, but has seemingly turned down the proposed $2.7 million contract.

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NRL.com reported the Warriors deal never came to fruition with the 19-year-old instead choosing the Gold Coast.

Massive signing for the @GCTitans. My man Tino Fa’asuamaleaui signing for the club. Massive wraps on the youngster. Certainly a future rep prospect. @QLDmaroons @IntrustSuperCup

— Peter Psaltis (@peterp79) December 19, 2019

The New Zealand Herald reported that the deal was not yet confirmed with Warrior recruitment manager Peter O’Sullivan telling the paper that nothing had been signed and said the reports were a “complete fallacy”.

“He is a player that we are interested in and he would be a great addition to our roster,” O’Sullivan told the Herald. “But a lot of factors go into these kind of decisions and nothing is confirmed at all. There’s a process that Tino has to go through and he has some decisions to make.”

O’Sullivan said the side had tabled an offer and were already looking for an extension and that the side had offered a contract “appropriate” to his value on the open market.

The Junior Kangaroos representative is one of the hottest young properties in rugby league — Fa’asuamaleaui made his NRL debut for the Storm in round 16 this year and played five games off the bench.

Tino Faasuamaleaui representing the PM XIII team earlier this year.

The 197cm, 107kg second rower made 77 tackles and missed only two during his brief stint with the Melbourne-based club in 2019.

The Storm have also proved to be a thorn in the side of the deal with the club unlikely to release the youngster, meaning he’ll only be available from the 2021 season onwards.

The contract with the Titans is a coup for Justin Holbrook, who is looking to fill the void left by Jai Arrow, who is being heavily linked to the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

The Daily Telegraph and Sydney Morning Herald say Souths are confident of convincing Arrow to come to Redfern for the 2020 season to fill the void of the retired Sam Burgess.

The Titans are coming to the table with big guns however, asking for a player and money in return for the early release of Arrow for the 2020 season.

Fa’asuamaleaui also made his Test debut for Samoa in November, facing Fiji during a 44-18 loss in Auckland.

The Storm’s first encounter of 2020 will be against the Manly Sea Eagles in an away fixture on Sunday, March 15th.