It’s the end of a little suspense. Matthieu Jalibert will wear the Union Bordeaux-Bègles colors until 2025. The news fell this Thursday morning, published by the club on its website. The international opener, who is currently preparing the November tour of the XV of France in Marcoussis (Essonne), was linked with his training club until 2023. He therefore extends two more seasons. Coveted in particular by Racing 92, he declared a few weeks ago: “I feel good in Bordeaux, but we also need guarantees for the future”.
In reality, the 22-year-old opener (12 selections with the Blues) wanted to extend his adventure in Gironde. Sportingly, the club semi-finalist of the Top 14 last season and quarter-finalist of the European Cup, twice beaten by the Toulouse Stadium, future winner of both competitions, presents one of the biggest potentials of the championship of France. Second in the Top 14 currently, he is one of the candidates for the title and his ambitions are growing year after year. Christophe Urios, his manager, arrived in 2019 from Castres where he won the Brennus shield in 2018, has the makings to lead the Girondin club to the title and he has already managed to impose his brand.
It remained to agree on the salary increase. Jalibert, 22, who has already played 73 games with UBB, 56 times as a starter and registered 769 points, has taken on a new dimension since the start of the season. Decisive in each match, he carries his team to the point of having become an indispensable cog. Coach Fabien Galthié is also seriously considering starting him at the opening during the November tour (against Argentina on the 6th, Georgia on the 14th and New Zealand on the 20th) and shifting Toulouse’s Romain Ntamack to the center. Apparently an agreement has been reached between the club and the players.
