League: Warriors target Tino Fa'asuamaleaui signs with Gold Coast Titans

Tino Fa'asuamaleaui has played just a handful of first grade NRL games. Photo / Getty Images

The Warriors have missed out on signing young Melbourne forward Tino Fa'asuamaleaui, with the 19-year-old agreeing to terms with the Gold Coast Titans.

Fa'asuamaleaui, who has just five first grade matches to his name, will join the Titans on a three-year deal starting in 2021, worth a reported NZ$2.08m.

The Warriors were believed to be one of four teams in the hunt for the young giant's signature, and previous reports suggested Fa'asuamaleaui had agreed to join the Warriors on a multi-million dollar deal.

However Warriors recruitment manager Peter O'Sullivan told the Herald on Thursday that no contracts had been signed, and suggestions he had already agreed to join the club were a "complete fallacy".

That proved to be the case, as NRL.com reported the 197cm, 115kg forward informed the Warriors on Thursday that he would be knocking back their offer to going to Titans.

Great news today with confirmation that Tino Fa'asuamaleaui has signed with the Club for season 2021 and beyond.

📰➡️ https://t.co/2fiRl1tNDx pic.twitter.com/nHoRSVJMz5

— Gold Coast Titans (@GCTitans) December 19, 2019

He'll have to wait another year before he can link up with his new club, however, with the Melbourne Storm not willing to release him from the final year of his contract.

Melbourne released a statement on Thursday confirming the Storm's own contract extension was withdrawn after a deadline on the offer passed.

"Storm was made aware by Tino's representatives that the club was highly unlikely to be able to compete with the money being offered for a young man who is at the start of his career," Melbourne's statement read.

The announcement concluded that Fa'asuamaleaui would be "competing for a spot in Storm's best 17 in 2020."