Bath will not stand in way of George Ford's desire to leave as Sale Sharks circle England fly-half

Ford has a break clause in his contract for the end of the season

George Ford has activated a release clause in his contract that will end his deal with Bath a year early (Getty)

George Ford has been given permission to leave Bath after director of rugby Todd Blackadder admitted he would not stand in the England fly-half’s way at the end of the season.

The 23-year-old has been linked with a move away from 2014/15 Premiership runners-up after Ford admitted he was “upset” by the abrupt sacking of his father, Mike, at the end of last season.

Midland duo Northampton Saints and Leicester are among his potential suitors, although Bath owner Bruce Craig is understood to have already blocked a proposed move back to former club the Tigers, leaving Sale Sharks as apparent favourites to land the stand-off.

Ford has a contract at the Rec until 2018 but was revealed to have a break clause in his contract which can be activated after the current campaign, allowing him to leave, with Bath being entitled to compensation.

Blackadder, who replaced Mike Ford as director of rugby, is desperate to keep Ford and even compared him to All Blacks great and former Canterbury Crusaders teammate Dan Carter.

However, the Kiwi struck a more defeated tone on Monday and admitted he wouldn’t stand in Ford’s way if he wanted to leave.

“If George makes a decision to leave at the end of the year, that will be his decision and it will be one that we will respect,” Blackadder said.

“Internally it is something for him and people who look after George and those decisions. I have not tried to get too deep with him, I just want him to really enjoy his rugby in the time we have left for him. He is really enjoying rugby.

“When he gets back here, he leads the team really well. There will be a lot of speculation around his future but we will be guided by what he wants to do and we’ll just take it as it comes.”


 George Ford has starred in England's unbeaten year 
 (Getty)

Sale are reportedly confident of adding Ford to their squad in what would be a remarkable coup for the club after losing Danny Cipriani to Wasps in the summer.

A move to Sale would place Ford, who England head coach Eddie Jones recently backed to become the best player in the world, back to his family roots in Oldham, even though he would be leaving a side currently third in the Premiership for a side currently in 10^th.

“It is one of those things with a player of his calibre and quality that there is always going to be a lot of speculation,” Blackadder added.

Henry Slade is on Bath's list of replacements for Ford (Getty)

“It is just par for the course. For us at Bath it is really simple: we just want to enjoy what we are doing and focus on the rugby. Even for George it is probably a distraction. We don’t want it to be.”

While it is not yet certain Ford will leave the Rec, Bath are already looking at potential replacements, with Exeter’s Henry Slade – who is also under contract – top of their list to challenge Rhys Priestland for the No 10 next season.