George North will conduct “interviews” with all four of the Welsh regions before deciding which one to play for next season.
The Wales wing – currently out of action with a knee injury – is to leave Northampton at the end of this campaign and return to Wales on a dual contract.
But whilst 60 per cent of his salary will be paid for by the Welsh Rugby Union, the contributor of the remaining 40 per cent has yet to be determined with the Scarlets, the Ospreys, the Cardiff Blues and the Dragons all keen to add North to their squad.
The 25-year-old two-times Lions tourist has revealed he will hold a series of meetings with all four regions and quiz them on their plans and ambitions.
“For me it’s a case of sitting down with them all properly, and having a conversation about who’s coming and who’s going, who they are recruiting, the brand of rugby they’re playing, and where I would best fit in with that,” said North.
“I think all the Welsh regions are playing a lot more open rugby. Somewhere that I would fit in would be somewhere that would allow me some ball in space to do what I can do.”
The Scarlets will be favourites to add him to their squad, although the Dragons are ambitious to make another marquee signing following their capture of Ross Moriarty from Gloucester.
The Ospreys and the Blues will also use their connections within the Wales squad to press their claims.
North announced last week that he will be leaving Saints at the end of the season. He was off-loaded by the Scarlets in 2012 after they decided they needed to cash in on the remainder of his contract and he had not been pressing to leave Wales.
He says he now wants to return as he believes the WRU will be able to take better care of his workload than an English club working to their own agenda.
“I’ve had five good years at Northampton. I’ve enjoyed my time here and come on leaps and bounds as a player – I feel like I’ve developed – but for me the next step is back in Wales.
“I feel that an NDC it gives me the full benefit of being taken care of by the union; they monitor games, they control your time off and your pre-season.
“It allows me to get the best out of myself, so I know when I take the field I am in the best possible place to play my best rugby and to really kick on. I feel that, at 25, there’s a lot more to give.”
North says Wales’ new 60-cap rule, which dictates that no player can be picked for Wales if he plays outside and has less than 60 caps, is a good replacement for the previous system.
“I think the first rule with the wildcard system, there was a lot of grey areas and I think the union would admit that as well. There was a lot of toing and froing; ‘he made an offer, they made an offer, he’s captured, he’s not’.
“I think the 60-cap rule is very simple – either you [play abroad] or you don’t and it’s your decision.”
The winger has been out of action since suffering a knee injury in October, so he has not featured in any of Wales’ autumn internationals, but is excited about the team’s prospects after narrow losses to Australia and New Zealand.
“I feel like we are developing nicely,” said North. “We’ve blooded a few young guys, and a few guys have come back in, we are definitely building in the right direction.
“We’re in great shape, we’re creating chances, we’re just not taking them. I think that’s where we really need to push on.
“It showed against the All Blacks; when we got into some shape, when we got into some patterns, we were creating some overlaps. We just have to take the chances, and once we do that we will be in a particularly good place.”
