Wales and Lions centre Jamie Roberts will leave Cardiff Blues at the end of the season, the region have announced.
Cardiff chief executive Richard Holland revealed the Blues had hoped to persuade Roberts to stay with a deal that would have made him one of the best-paid players in the UK but conceded they could not compete with offers from other clubs.
The 25-year-old Roberts has been linked in the media to big-spending French side Racing Metro.
Holland said: "The offer that we made to Jamie was an extremely attractive one and would have seen him become certainly the highest paid player in the Blues squad, and arguably in the UK.
"As a business we simply don't have the resource to compete with the offers that Jamie has received.
"Naturally we are disappointed that Jamie has decided to leave the region but we wish him the best of luck with his career."
