Gloucester and Wales wing Louis Rees-Zammit has left his club with immediate effect to “pursue his dream” of playing in the NFL.
The Rugby Paper’s Neil Fissler reported that scouts from the NFL had been keeping tabs on Rees-Zammit last Sunday.
The shock news, which derailed and delayed Wales’ Six Nations squad announcement, was revealed by his parent club in a statement on their website early on Tuesday afternoon.
“Gloucester Rugby have agreed to release winger Louis Rees-Zammit with immediate effect to enable the 22-year-old to pursue his dream of playing in the National Football League (NFL),” it read.
“The Welsh international has accepted an invitation to join the NFL International Player Pathway (IPP) which provides elite athletes from around the world with an opportunity to earn a place on an NFL roster.”
The 22-year-old pauses his rugby playing career with 14 tries in 32 appearances for Wales, and 42 tries for Gloucester in 67 games for the club he has spent his entire professional career with.
Rees-Zammit thanked the Cherry and Whites in a statement on X as he confirmed the news.
“Gloucester Rugby has been a huge part of my life,” he said. “From the start at Hartpury College and my first professional rugby contract with Gloucester in 2020, to my Wales and Lions caps, the club has been central to my development as a player, and I am so grateful for their support.
“I will always be very proud of my time at Kingsholm, and want to particularly thank the incredible fans who make the club so special.
“Also, to my team-mates, to George Skivington and Alex Brown, thank you for giving me such special memories and for supporting this next stage of my career.
“I have had the incredible honour of playing rugby for my country which, as a proud Welshman, I’ve never taken for granted.
“However, I believe that this is the right time for me to realise another professional goal of playing American football in the US. Those opportunities don’t come around very often.”
Rees-Zammit follows fellow winger Christian Wade in making the leap from rugby to the NFL, with the ex-England winger having gone down the same route to earn a training contract at the Buffalo Bills in 2019.
Wade remained a practice squad member throughout his time in the U.S. and never played a game in the league, returning to rugby in 2022 with Racing 92. Rees-Zammit will leave the UK for Florida this week to begin the IPP programme.
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