“Silly season” may be stretching it but the fact Jonny May’s transfer from Gloucester to Leicester has forced Premiership clubs to close a contractual loophole – not to mention earned him the nickname “Neymar” – is further evidence of a burgeoning transfer market in rugby union.

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May swapped Kingsholm for Welford Road on Monday for a fraction of the £200m the Brazil footballer cost Paris Saint-Germain but as far as rugby in England is concerned, the move was just as significant. It came about because the wing activated a clause in the Premiership’s code of conduct which meant that, despite having a year left on his contract, Gloucester could not stop him talking to other teams.

Premiership clubs have closed the loophole but earlier this summer Northampton were powerless to stop Louis Picamoles leaving after 12 months of his three-year contract, for what is believed to be the first seven-figure transfer fee, while Bath were in a similar position over George Ford’s return to Leicester.

It is a climate that means players such as Chris Robshaw, who has signed a three-year contract extension with his one and only club, Harlequins, are an increasingly rare breed. The 31-year-old revealed it has never crossed his mind to seek a future away from the Stoop but acknowledges the changing landscape, citing the kind of pulling power English clubs now have - as demonstrated on Thursday with Bristol’s capture of New Zealand’s Charles Piutau for next season.

“It is coming more and more into the game with TV money,” Robshaw said. “People aren’t necessarily letting contracts run out which is what they used to do. I have signed a contract extension with a year still left. When I first started you were waiting a lot further down the line to address that.

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“Jonny May has had a little bit of stick about being called Neymar. They are slightly different contracts I am sure. Because people are looking at players from other clubs or poaching – the game is changing but it is great for the game. The league is competitive now, not only from an English point of view, we are attracting players that traditionally would have gone to France or Japan – look at the Schalk Burgers, the Willie le Rouws and the Kurtley Beales.”

While Harlequins have tied Robshaw to a new deal, the director of rugby, John Kingston, admits he has his work cut out to keep hold of several promising young English players, led by the Lions prop, Kyle Sinckler. “The market has gone stupid in the last few years,” Kingston said. “The hike in the salary cap ceiling, whatever the idea was behind it, what it has done is inflate the top of the market. Everyone does things for money to a certain extent, it is all relative to what it is.”

Eddie Jones, who recently said England would “win the World Cup with a team of Chris Robshaws”, is in Japan with a number of his backroom staff assessing training bases and hotels. Jones intends to take England to Japan two weeks before the competition and wants to play a warmup match in that time. “We’ll look to come here around 3-6 September,” he said. “We are looking to play similar teams to the ones we face in the pool stages.”