BRISBANE, AAP - The long-running saga over Latrell Mitchell's NRL future has reportedly ended with the representative centre signing a cut-price deal with South Sydney.
Mitchell's future has been up in air for several weeks despite the 22-year-old being under contract with the Sydney Roosters for 2020.
The NRL premiers granted Mitchell leave before the start of their pre-season training and it appears the Kangaroos and NSW representative has played his last game for the Roosters with Souths winning the race for his signature.
The Rabbitohs had tabled a one-year deal worth $400,000 to Mitchell but it's unclear if Gold Coast's reluctance to allow forward Jai Arrow to join Souths in 2020 has allowed the Redfern-based club to increase their offer.
Before any announcement is made official, Mitchell's move needs ratifying by the NRL's salary cap auditor Richard Gardham.
The Roosters are also expected to ask for the $116,000 they have paid Mitchell since November to be returned to them, the Sydney Morning Herald reports, in another stumbling block to the move.
Gardham has announced he'll use the earnings of every player in the competition to determine Mitchell's market value with the Souths deal far less than the reported $1 million per season he was offered by Wests Tigers and a withdrawn $800,000 per year deal from the Roosters.
