English rugby league club Wigan has given up on signing St George-Illawarra centre Mark Gasnier.

Wigan formally terminated its interest in the Test back, blaming wild claims that the club was willing to pay as much as $A900,000 a year.

Four days ago, Wigan chairman Maurice Lindsay was poised to fly to Sydney to talk to Gasnier personally.

But Lindsay said the deal was off and suggested Gasnier's agent George Mimis had used Wigan to raise the bids in Australia.

"There have been so many wildly exaggerated reports connecting us with Mark Gasnier that we felt it necessary to publicly announce that, as much as we admire Mark, we will not be pursuing our interest," Lindsay said in a statement.

"There have been reports both in this country and Australia suggesting that we were about to pay a king's ransom when in reality any interest we have shown has been within salary cap restrictions and considerably less than the outrageous sums stated by certain people.

"Perhaps suggesting that Wigan were prepared to pay a high sum helped to improve negotiations in Australia.

"We will not be part of that game. It is not the first time that we have been mentioned in this way by a particular agent in Australia."

Lindsay said for the sake of the club's credibility and that of the British game, it was important to put the record straight.

"We have therefore advised Australia that we will not be pursuing an interest in Mark Gasnier," he said.

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