THERE was a time at the end of the 2022 when Lebanon international and ex-NRL star Josh Mansour was being linked with a move to Super League.
The powerful winger had just left the South Sydney Rabbitohs following 12 tries in 16 appearances over a period of two seasons, but with his next club yet to be confirmed, Mansour left Australia for the World Cup in the UK.
Despite his persistent link with a Super League move, the 32-year-old star instead dropped down a league to play for the Newtown Jets in the New South Wales Cup competition in Australia.
Now, Mansour has explained just why a move to the UK fell through and why a move would interest him in the next year or two.
“The move didn’t really progress too much in conversation. I think what happened for us was, as a family we were considering going to the UK but when I came back from the World Cup we had some good news that my wife was pregnant,” Mansour told League Express.
“We were able to calculate that the day she fell pregnant was the night before I jumped on a plane to head over to the UK for the World Cup so talk about timing!
“We wanted to stay home close to family, we have two young kids and my wife gives birth in a few weeks. Maybe if something happened next year or the year after, we haven’t spoke about it but I still have the ambition to keep playing.”
So why did he love the UK so much in the winter of 2022?
“I loved my time over there, we were all fortunate to stay in the heart of Manchester. I then spent a bit of time in London and we stayed in Leeds as well so it was three great cities,” Mansour continued.
“I can’t complain really – I got to experience the best of England. Manchester is a great part of the world and it did get a bit cold but I just loved playing in front of the fans, the energy is completely different.
“Meeting the people around the UK as well, everyone was so lovely and I can see myself living over there if the opportunity comes up.”
