Castleford Tigers' Luke Gale cools transfer rumours

Luke Gale has played down rumours of a move away from Castleford Tigers for the 2020 Super League season.

The half-back has been linked with a switch to Leeds Rhinos for next season, despite having one year left to run on his current Castleford contract.

But Gale, who was a studio guest for Sky Sports' coverage of Salford Red Devils' win over Warrington Wolves on Thursday night, insisted his sole focus is on getting back to full fitness following the Achilles injury which sidelined him for the 2019 campaign.

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"Everywhere I go, I keep getting asked," Gale told Sky Sports. "But I'm a Castleford player for another year, so that's all I can say.

"I'm a Castleford player and my main focus now is getting back fit. The rumour mill and the press can say what they like, but my number one focus is getting back fit and that's what I'm going towards this year."

"I'm a Castleford player for another year, so that's all I can say."

The 31-year-old suffered the injury during pre-season training in January and had held out hope he could return for the closing stages of the Super League regular season.

But the initial prognosis of a nine-month recovery period has proven to be correct and Gale has now accepted he will not be back to help Castleford in their bid to secure a place in the play-offs.

"It's disappointing, but the rehab is going great," Gale said. "There was hope from myself, but the physio initially planned nine months and we're looking way on track for that.

"The problem is we're going to run out of time, with three games left of the regular season, but the rehab is going great and I couldn't be happier with it."