SALE have announced that Newcastle wing Charlie Amesbury will move to Edgeley Park in the summer.
The 25-year-old former Harlequins star’s progress at Kingston Park has been hampered by injury of late but Diamond believes he fits to a tee the template of what he is trying to build at Edgeley Park.
“Charlie is young, hungry and what we are all about,” said the Sharks’ executive director of sport, Steve Diamond
“He is a good signing for us whose chances at Newcastle have been limited of late due to an injury, but he is back to full fitness and I am looking forward to welcoming him to the club for pre-season training in June.
“He did really well at Harlequins and when I knew he was looking to move on from Newcastle, I met up with him and discovered he was very keen to play with the likes of Mark Cueto and I’m delighted to have signed him.
“Charlie is quick and he’s got good hands. There’s been lots of conjuncture about at the moment as to way Sale play but with all due respect to myself, Pete Anglesea and Stevie Scott who are forwards we will be bringing a backs coach to help.
“We all come from a background where we played rugby. The job in hand when I arrived was to stay up, put a team together and to get the facilities right and in all three directions we are steaming ahead.”
Amesbury follows in the footsteps of fellow northern star – Leeds forward Kearnan Myall – whose capture for next season Diamond secured earlier this month and who produced a superb all-round display in the Yorkshire side’s 15-12 defeat by Sale last Friday.
For his part Amesbury, who is a former England Sevens international and who has also played for Exeter Chiefs, admitted he was hugely excited at the prospect of heading south up the A1 to form part of Diamond’s new-look Sale squad.
“I have enjoyed my time at Newcastle and thank everyone there for the support over the past two years but the time is right for me to take up this new challenge at Sale Sharks who are clearly showing a huge amount of ambition moving forward,” said Amesbury.
The Sale boss’s hectic recruitment process continues apace with more signings secured and set to be unveiled but one gap in Sale’s armoury for next season remains at fly-half given the imminent departure of Charlie Hodgson to Saracens.
“That’s an issue that we’re working on and giving a lot of attention to,” Diamond added.