FORMER Bull Lee Radford helped his old club steal a march on rivals to snap up forward Levy Nzoungou.

The 21-year-old will join up with his team-mates at Tong in January after signing from French club Albi Tigers.

John Kear was delighted to beat off competition for the imposing forward – thanks to a heads-up from Hull FC coach Radford.

Kear said: “It was while speaking to Lee about dual registration and he mentioned him.

“He said Levy was over in France but knew he was unhappy there because his girlfriend, who he’s got a child with, is from Warrington and she hasn’t settled.

“I asked Lee what he was like and why they hadn’t kept him but it was because they couldn’t fit him in their (salary) cap.

“I confidentially told Lee what I was thinking of offering and asked him if he was worth that. He said he was worth double.

“When he said that to me, that’s when we really did pursue him in earnest.

“It’s strange that a dual-registration chat led to that and we were ahead of the competition.

“We were the first ones in and got it done and dusted and beat everybody.

“He’s a real good player and I’m pleased we’ve got a big middle-unit forward joining us.”

Congo-born Nzoungou has four Super League appearances under his belt with Salford and Hull. He played 13 times last season with Hull’s dual-reg partner Doncaster.

He becomes the fifth new arrival at Bulls - and their third unveiled in the past two weeks.

Kear added: “It’s good for the fans we’ve got these over the line and they can see we’re building.”