Sought After Smith Set To Leave Reds

Salford's scrum half, Matty Smith looks to be on his way out of the City of Salford Stadium for the 2013 season.

Since joining Salford, Matty Smith has built up a succesful partnership with stand off Dan Holdsworth.  He is regarded to be in the best form of his career since joining the club on loan in 2010, which was made into a permenant move the following year. The Salford head coach, Phil Veivers has confirmed to the media that former club St Helens, and Challenge Cup holders Wigan Warriors have both tabled offers for the 24 year old. It is also believed that Widnes have an interest in his signature, as they aim to build their squad for 2013, possibly wanting Smith to play in the halves alongside Kevin Brown in 2013.
 
Salford coach Phil Veivers said: "I'm pretty sure he's made his decision and I don't think it will be with us. He has four offers on the table, including Wigan and Saints, who I am pretty sure will be chasing trophies. I was happy with the offer we made to Matty. I've spoken in depth with him. I respect his decision and now we've got to move on." This quote from Phil Veivers suggests that Smith is likely to reject the offer from Salford in favour of a move to a high-profile Super League club.
 
Matty Smith is St Helens born and bred, and played for his childhood team for a number of years. In the years 2006-10 in which he played for the club he played understudy to Sean Long and then Kyle Eastmond. As a back up player, he spent time on loan at Widnes, Crusaders and Salford, before moving their permenantly. At St Helens, Smith led Saints to the 2007 Grand Final with an impressive performance in a play off against Leeds, but was dropped for the returning Long in the Grand Final. In 2010, he was recalled from a loan spell at Salford and started at scrum half in all of St Helens' play off matches, but couldn't guide the team to Super league glory. Nathan Brown, the Saints coach from 2013 is believed to want to strengthen the half back positions at his future club for next year.
 
With the confirmed departure of Thomas Leuluai and the uncertainty regarding the future of Brett Finch, Wigan are also in the market for at least one new half back. Smith has an impressive kicking game and the recent success at Wigan and the promise of finally, after many years, gaining a starting place at a top Super League club, could be enough to lure him to the DW Stadium.

Source: bbc.co.uk