 Stimpson will join Perpignan in December |
Leicester full-back Tim Stimpson will join French club Perpignan in December. The 30-year-old former England star's future at Welford Road has been the subject of much speculation in recent months.
But after Leicester beat Newcastle 28-21 on Friday, Stimpson and the club released a joint statement.
Stimpson has been the club's top points scorer for the last four seasons and helped the Tigers to two European Cups and five Zurich Premiership titles.
Stimpson, who won 23 England caps, said: "I have had five-and-a-half brilliant years at Leicester and this was an incredibly hard decision for me to make.
 |  Maybe I'll return one day as a player or even as a coach |
"I've loved every minute of my time at the club but this is an opportunity that I can't turn down.
"It's a chance to learn a different way of playing with a different set of players in a totally different culture.
"I've always said that I wanted to play abroad at some stage, although I'm not ruling out a move back to England.
"I am continuing to enjoy every game for Tigers and maybe I'll return one day as a player or even as a coach."
Leicester director of rugby Dean Richards said: "Obviously, we are disappointed that Tim has decided to leave us after playing such a large part in our recent success.
"I would like to keep him here but he sees this as an incredible opportunity for him and I won't stand in anybody's way.
"We could have insisted that he see out the rest of his contract until the end of June but Tim had made up his mind to go and we agreed that the beginning of December would be the best date for all concerned."
MMIX
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