There's been a breakthrough in the Louis Bielle-Biarrey contract saga

French superstar Louis Bielle-Biarrey is closing in on a new deal with back-to-back Champions Cup winners Bordeaux-Bègles, following a breakthrough in negotiations between his advisors and Gironde president Laurent Marti.

Bielle-Biarrey, 23, who scored 34 tries in 31 games for club and country last season, is now in the final year of his contract, which will run out at the end of next June and has turned down Bordeaux-Bègles’s opening offer of a four-year extension.

Instead, it appears a compromise has been reached that will see the Six Nations Player of the Tournament in 2025 and 2026 remain in the port city on the Garonne River until the end of the decade.

Bielle-Biarrey, who has scored 29 tries in 27 appearances for his country, has been allowed to speak to rival clubs since the start of the month but has never been put on the transfer market by his advisors, who were confident a deal would be struck.

The winger himself was keen to commit to staying at the club where he has scored 64 tries in 95 appearances since making his debut at Brive in January, a week before he scored a hat-trick against the Scarlets in the Champions Cup.

Midi Olympique reports that only the financial structure of the deal needs to be ironed out to comply with the French salary cap, and that it should all be agreed and announced before the end of August.

Bielle-Biarrey is also keen on a release to play for his country in the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, following in the footsteps of scrum-half Antoine Dupont, who made the surprise switch in 2024, helping win gold with a 28-7 win over Fiji at the Stade de France.

French Rugby Federation president Florian Grill told L’Equipe earlier this year that Bielle-Biarrey could have a similar impact to Dupont.

“I learned of his desire to play sevens, and I’m very happy about it. Louis would be an excellent rugby sevens player, of course,” he said.