Bristol Bears are chasing the signature of exciting former Harlequins winger Gabriel Ibitoye according to the latest reports.
Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam is always looking in unusual places for potential new players having signed Toby Fricker from the semi-professional Welsh Premiership and Siva Naulago from Super League side Hull FC in recent years, now he is looking to sign former England U20 winger Ibitoye from Israeli club the Tel Aviv Heat.
The club, led by Ibitoye's former Quins teammate Demetri Catrakilis, compete with Georgian and Russian clubs in the eastern conference of the Rugby Europe Super Cup.
Ibitoye, who is still just 23, joined the Middle Eastern side after a difficult season in France having surprisingly left Harlequins in 2020 during the first of Covid-19 lockdown to take up a two-year deal in the French Top-14 with Agen.
But having scored 14 tries in 40 appearances for Harlequins, Ibitoye's career in France never really took off and he was allowed to leave Agen at the end of the first season of his deal due to a clause in his contract should the club be relegated, which they duly were.
After scoring two tries on his debut in France, Ibitoye fell out of favour and having played only seven games for the club was allowed to leave Agen on loan to join Montpellier midway through the season.
But with Ibitoye a free agent this summer, and the clause in his contract with Quins that stopped him signing for another English club before now timed out; Bristol, Leicester Tigers and United Rugby Championship side Glasgow Warriors are all interested in signing the exciting, hot-stepping pocket rocket of a winger according to The Rugby Paper.
With Charles Piutau rumoured to be leaving the Bears at the end of the season with marquee players at Premiership clubs, whose wages sit outside the £5m salary cap, being reduced from two to one ahead of the 2022/23 season, Lam appears to be on the search for some additional stardust in his backline without the hefty price tag of the former All Black.
Tel Aviv Heat director of rugby Kevin Musikanth certainly believes Ibitoye has that. He said: “Gabs is an unbelievable rugby player.
" It is not just his physical abilities and work ethic that makes him world-class, it is his ability to read the game and be in the perfect places to express his talents. He does this with great energy.
“He has the makings of a real global superstar and I look forward to the influence he will have on the growth of the game in our region and of course the excitement that he will provide for the inaugural Rugby Europe Super Cup competition and its fan base.”
Bristol, who sit 12th in the table, have already confirmed two headline grabbing signings ahead of next season with the addition of Sale Sharks fly-half AJ MacGinty and Leicester Tigers captain Ellis Genge.
