Harlequins have announced the arrival of England winger Chris Ashton following his departure from Sale Sharks earlier this week.
The 32-year-old joins the Premiership side with immediate effect and links up with several familiar faces. Speaking on his move he admitted that he is excited by the direction in which the club is heading and believes he can achieve his own personal goals there too.
“I can’t wait to get started at Quins. It is a Club filled with incredibly experienced and talented players. When I spoke to Gussy and heard more about the direction the Club is going in, and what it means to be a Harlequin, I knew that this was the right move for me. I know lots of the lads at Quins, like Danny, through our England careers and years of friendship. I like the look of what Quins are doing, they are growing a strong squad and the foundations for future success are in place. I know that I have still got a lot to give on the pitch and I am confident that being at Quins will enable me to continue scoring tries and help me with my aspirations of reaching 100 Premiership tries, beating the current record,” he said.
The back-liner has racked up 44 international caps for England to date, scoring 20 tries in the process, but has not been included in the national side since the beginning of last year.
Quins’ director of Rugby Paul Gustard is delighted to have a player of Ashton’s quality join the team and thinks that he can really add to the current crop of players.
“We are delighted that ‘Ashy’ has decided to commit his future to Harlequins. I have known Chris for around eight years now and he is without doubt one of the most competitive, professional and dedicated athletes I have encountered. His drive to succeed and win is exceptional, allied to his desire to improve and be the best version of himself he can be has always been clear. We were very interested in Chris when he was looking to move back to the UK, but unfortunately we were not in a position to compete 28 months ago. However, circumstances change and timings can sometimes work in mysterious ways, meaning we were able to get our man. We have four of our senior back three players currently unavailable with injury and therefore to bring Chris to the Club is a big boost to the squad,” he said.
It is a huge boost for the club with the former Saracens, Northampton and Toulon winger choosing to join them. He currently sits third in the Premiership’s all-time leading try-scorers list with 86 and will hope to reach the 100 mark during his time at Quins.
First up for Ashton could be a game against the Bristol Bears this weekend if he can hit the ground running during the remainder of the week.
