Sonny Bill Williams will not return to Sydney Roosters next season and is deciding between the Blues and Chiefs before finalising a three-year deal with the New Zealand Rugby Union that will enable him to box and play sevens in the lead-up to the 2019 World Cup.

Williams, who has been intensely pursued by the Roosters as well as French and English rugby union clubs, is understood to have informed the NRL club's chairman Nick Politis that he had decided to continue in the 15-man code.

Toulon, where the 30-year-old dual international began his rugby union career in 2008, Montpellier and Racing 92 were among the French clubs linked to Williams but he does not want to move to Europe and has rejected the lucrative offers.

With an 18-month old daughter, Imaan, Williams and his wife, Alana, are believed to be keen to live closer to his family in Auckland but he has a strong association with the Chiefs after playing there the seasons before and after his two-year stint with the Roosters and leading the Hamilton-based franchise to the 2012 Super Rugby title.