Cyclingnews have reported that Astana are in the hunt to sign world champion Peter Sagan. They are prepared to offer him a reported €5 million per season, as well as take his brother Juraj Sagan and another rider from his Tinkoff team with him, as well as two staff members.

Specialized would have a hand in the deal, perhaps paying part of Sagan’s salary, but they only have a bike deal with Etixx-QuickStep for 2017, and haven’t decided to renew with Astana yet.

Sagan does have a contract with Tinkoff for 2017, but with owner Oleg Tinkov pulling out at the end of the year, manager Stefano Feltrin is racing against time to find a new backer to keep the team alive.

He has been linked to Trek-Segafredo, BMC, Sky and Etixx-QuickStep already this season.