Toulon add three to their summer shopping list

It was never going to take long into the season for perennial big spenders Toulon to be linked with a new batch of recruits.

According to Midi-Olympique, Toulon are already targeting three new players for the 2018/19 season and for fans who have been discontent about the number of non-French players at the club in recent years, this shortlist should help appease that.

Top of the list is Bordeaux-Bègles scrum-half Yann Lesgourges.

The 26-year-old Frenchman is competing with Baptiste Serin for top spot at Bordeaux and is reportedly higher on Mourad Boudjellal’s wishlist than Welsh international and British and Irish Lion Rhys Webb.

Could a change in recruitment policy be on the cards for Boudjellal?

Also on Boudjellal’s radar is Stade Français centre Jonathan Danty.

The powerful ball-carrier broke into the French national team back in 2016, but his form tailed off shortly after that and he has been limited to just the four caps for Les Bleus. There is no shortage of suitors for the 24-year-old, with Bordeaux and Toulouse also interested, as well as Parisian rivals Racing.

Given the notorious proposed-and-then-collapsed merger last season between Stade and Racing, it remains to be seen how much interest Danty - who said the merger would be the death of Stade - would have in moving to his current side’s arch-rivals, or if Stade’s precarious financial position would allow them to retain him.

Either way, it makes Toulon look a very possible destination, as they compete with Bordeaux and Toulouse for his signature.

The last player linked with a move to the Côte d’Azur is Théo Belan, who left Toulon in 2016 to join Lyon, but who the club are now, just a season later, reported to want back.

Both Danty and Belan would add midfield options to a club that has recently lost Matt Giteau, as well as current incumbent Ma’a Nonu set to turn 36 before the end of the season.

Boudjellal has been outspoken in his desire to add more French players to the Toulon squad, citing his wish to win the title with 23 Frenchmen, and if he can bring these three players on board for 2018/19, then he is a few steps closer to that goal.