Gloucester Confirm England Winger Jonny May’s Departure
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Gloucester Rugby have today confirmed the signing of lock Ed Slater from Leicester Tigers, with Jonny May leaving to move in the opposite direction.
Slater experienced forward can operate at lock or flanker, and has made over 130 appearances for the Tigers and was part of the 2013 squad that lifted the Aviva Premiership title. May had a year remaining in his contract, but expressed his appetite to leave.
The Tigers are believed to have paid a fee plus Slater to buy May out of the final year of his contract.
David Humphreys said about May’s departure;
“Jonny approached the club and explained he wanted to leave Gloucester and immediately our attention turned to strengthening the squad and the type of person we needed to recruit.
“Johan [Ackermann] has made it very clear that we need to dominate teams up front if we are to be successful and we feel that Ed’s inclusion in the squad will add a lot to that key objective.
“Ed’s leadership ability will also be a great influence on the rest of the pack and he brings tremendous experience.
“Jonny has been a big part of Gloucester over the past 9 years and everybody at the club wishes him the best in his future career. He has been an outstanding player, and very popular with the Gloucester supporters. But once he decided he didn’t want to play for the Club again we had to move on and strengthen the squad ahead of the new season.”