DRAGONS head coach Bernard Jackman has revealed that the Gwent region will hold talks with Wales wing George North over a potential move to Rodney Parade.

North is leaving Aviva Premiership side Northampton Saints at the end of the season to return to the principality on a national dual contract.

While Cardiff Blues and the Ospreys are also said to be interested in signing the 25-year-old, the Dragons are the first of the four Welsh regions to confirm negotiations have started.

Ross Moriarty has already joined the Dragons for next season and getting North too would be another signal of intent from the Welsh Rugby Union-owned outfit.

“I think the plan is to meet him over Christmas or in the early New Year,” said Jackman.

“He’s in no rush. He’s coming back to Wales, which is an amazing coup for the WRU.

“He’s in no rush to meet any of us – he can take his time.

“When the opportunity arises, we’ll meet him, which I’m sure most if not all of the regions will, and have a chat with him, see if our project is of interest to him.

“We would love to have him. He’s a world-class player and a world-class bloke.”

Scrum-half Rhodri Williams will be another new face at Rodney Parade in the summer of 2018, and Jackman firmly believes the current Bristol number nine can be in Wales' 2019 World Cup plans.

“We announced Rhodri Williams from Bristol a month ago and I think he’s going to be a cracking signing,” added Jackman.

“Maybe because he’s been playing in England people have lost touch with his form but he’s coming back to Wales a far better player than he was when he left, and he was a very good player leaving.

“Ross is a great signing and Rhodri is a really good coup for us to get and, if he can be first choice for the Dragons, I think he could force his way into Welsh reckoning for the World Cup.

“I genuinely feel that he has the potential to do that.

“We’ve put a lot of work into our recruitment and tried to be forensic in our approach, and make sure we do due diligence in terms of the people we’re recruiting.

“Rhodri is another one that’s going to add to our group and I’d like to think over the next couple of months we’ll drip feed the new signings.”

Speaking about player recruitment in general, Jackman went on to say: “With the retention and recruitment we’re doing, I think we’ll be a very different squad next year, which is what we need to do because everyone else is getting better.

“We need to get better and some of that is talent development from within and talent attraction from outside.

“It is pleasing when you get these things over the line and the team shows progress as well, because that’s the most important thing.

“The recruitment will only add to what we have so we have to get this team better and that’s probably taking up 99 per cent of our time.”