Jamie Roberts’ imminent arrival at Harlequins might appear to block Harry Sloan’s path to the first team, but the young centre insists he is excited at the opportunity to learn form one of the best in the world.

Having spent the past two seasons with Racing Metro, Roberts will join Quins this season after competing at the Rugby World Cup for Wales.

The 28-year-old centre has made 69 appearances for Wales as well as going on two British & Irish Lions tours.

With that sort of CV, Roberts would appear to be a shoo-in for one of the starting centre spots and while Sloan, who is currently out with a shoulder injury, is keen to learn from him, he is also desperate to secure a starting spot for himself.

“I want that starting jersey, like every young player at Harlequins does,” explained Sloan.

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“I want to be playing Wasps in that first home game of the season and make a statement to Conor O’Shea that I want to be starting in the centres.

“I’m looking forward to Jamie Roberts coming in and it will be a great opportunity for me to learn from him.

“He’s a Lions legend, a Welsh legend and I’ve lost count of how many caps he’s got, so it’s a big opportunity for me.

“He’s a big ball-carrier which is part of my main game so it will be great to learn from him and get some tips off the pitch as well.”

Sloan has made 16 Harlequins appearances to date but the 21-year-old is keen to make a bigger mark this term.

Quins suffered a disappointing campaign last year as they finished eighth in the Aviva Premiership, missing out on a place in this season’s Champions Cup.

And Sloan says his side are desperate to improve on that this term by at least reaching the play-offs.

“Our aim is to make the top four and we want to win that title again. We had a great year in 2012 to win it and we want to replicate that and do it again this time around,” he added.

“We’re in the Challenge Cup which is a great opportunity to win a competition. We won it in 2011, so we want to do that again.”

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