England winger Christian Wade has left Premiership club Wasps to pursue a career in American football, according to reports.
Wade, one of the fastest players in the Premiership but relatively short in stature, is the third highest scorer in the competition's history with 82 tries.
The 27-year-old has won only one England cap, against Argentina in 2013, and has not been selected by current national coach Eddie Jones.
Wade joins rugby union players Alex Gray and Christian Scotland-Williamson in attempting to move to the NFL.
Gray joined the Atlanta Falcons while Scotland-Williamson moved to the Pittsburgh Steelers but neither has played an NFL game.
Wasps haven’t made a comment on the reports yet, though it seems his last match for them was a Premiership match against Gloucester in early October; he didn’t feature in their opening round Heineken European Cup thrashing by Leinster.
It isn’t clear yet whether he has been approached by an NFL club or whether he intends to enter into a round of trials, but he could benefit from the NFL's International Player Pathway, which allows franchises to add an extra player from outside of America to their practice squads.
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