Wales rugby star Louis Rees-Zammit has shocked the rugby world by quitting the sport with immediate effect to pursue a career in the NFL.
With the start of the Six Nations just a couple of weeks away and Wales due to name their squad for the tournament this afternoon, flying winger Rees-Zammit stunningly announced that he is retiring from rugby and joining the NFL’s International Player Pathway.
The 22-year-old burst on to the rugby scene as a teenager and has scored 14 tries in 31 caps for Wales, including five at last year’s Rugby World Cup, as well as becoming the youngest player to be selected for the British and Irish Lions since 1959 when he was named in the squad for the 2021 tour to South Africa aged just 20 years and 91 days.
But his club Gloucester released a statement confirming his immediate departure and that he would move to Florida to try and make it as an NFL player.
“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),” they said in a statement.
“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.”
Rees-Zammit also released a statement confirming that trying his hand at American football has been a long-held dream.
“I have had the incredible honour of playing rugby for my country which, as a proud Welshman, I’ve never taken for granted,” he said.
“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.”
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