Gloucester eye France back row Ibrahim Diallo

Gloucester, who finished ninth in the Premiership last season, are one of the clubs that have registered an interest in signing Racing 92 back-row Ibrahim Diallo if the Parisian giants don’t tie him down to a long-term contract.

Blindside flanker Diallo, 26, also plays on the openside of the back row. He is out of contract at La Defense Arena next summer and is already attracting interest from Top 14 rivals. His name has been sent around the Premiership.

RugbyPass sources in France say that a move to Gloucester is unlikely because the Cherry and Whites would be forced into paying so much over the odds to make a switch attractive, making a deal too costly to pull off.

It’s not impossible to imagine, however, especially if Gloucester free up funds by offloading back- rows Zach Mercer, who has interest from France after failing to break into the England squad under Steve Borthwick; and Ruan Ackermann.

Toulon will provide competition for Gloucester, while Toulouse are also said to be monitoring developments in the French capital, where talks between Diallo and Racing bosses are already underway.

Gloucester are unlikely to have to wait long to find out if a deal is possible, as all the big-name French clubs look to complete the bulk of their transfer business between now and Christmas when the market tends to slow down.

Diallo, who started his career at AAS Sarcelles, moved to Racing in 2015 and has made 115 appearances, scoring nine tries since breaking into the side, coming off the bench to make his debut against Bordeaux in December 2018.

This summer, he returned to Fabien Galthie’s squad for the first time since playing against Japan in July 2022 for the second test against Argentina and then the one-off game against Uruguay.