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Wales Online
Wales Online
Sport
Mark Orders

Four English clubs start race to sign Welsh wonderkid amid Wasps turmoil

Immanuel Feyi-Waboso — the gifted 19-year-old described as a "special" future Wales international — is on the radar of at least four English clubs amid the financial turmoil at Wasps.

Those interested are watching closely as the Coventry-based club head for administration.

All will no doubt have sat up and taken notice when Feyi-Waboso served notice of his quality with a man-of-the-match display in the recent Premiership Cup clash against Newcastle Falcons, with a try assist seeing him receive the ball on halfway, weave in and out through the opposition defence and then improbably manage a one-handed offload as he fell. All that remained for team-mate Harry Craven was to skip in for the score. You can read more about Feyi-Waboso's spectacular recent try assist here.

Read more: Wales could name new rugby captain imminently as leading candidate emerges

Wasps duly selected him as a replacement for last weekend’s Gallagher Premiership clash with Northampton Saints, with Feyi-Waboso lined up for the same role against Exeter Chiefs this weekend before the match was cancelled because of the problems engulfing one of English rugby’s most famous clubs.

Now the Cardiff Rugby product will see what the coming weeks hold.

But if he does become a free agent, as Worcester’s players recently became after their club ran into trouble, then the certainty is he will not be short of options, with a quartet of clubs already showing interest. He has taken a year out from Aston University in Birmingham to see how his rugby develops.

Cardiff’s highly-respected development boss Gruff Rees has previously described him as “something pretty special” and a potential Wales international of the future.

The teenager headed for Wasps at the end of last season after starting a course in medicine at Aston University.

Cardiff had been hoping to retain Feyi-Waboso after nurturing him for a number of years, but the outside centre failed to secure a place at Cardiff University despite achieving the three A* grades he required at Clifton College in Bristol.

He grew up in Llandaff, starting his rugby journey with Rumney RFC and progressing through Cardiff Schools and Cardiff Rugby’s age-grade sides. The former Corpus Christi and Clifton College pupil also excelled at athletics, particularly hurdles and high jump.

Penning a senior regional contract with Cardiff in 2021, he made his first appearance as a 17-year-old replacement wing against the Ospreys in the Rainbow Cup, before featuring in a friendly with Harlequins.

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