Richard Lewis added some details to the situation around Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev's move to the Falcons. According to the same sources who shared the initial rumor about the loan, the parties went for a temporary solution during negotiations due to the superstar's high buyout and uncertainty about his current shape. Richard shared this in a recent YouTube video made from a stream on September 30.
The same sources hit me up, and they said that the reason it's a loan deal is because it behooves everyone. Falcons were a little bit reluctant to pay a full buyout. NAVI didn't want him to let go for free, but also understand they're not going to sell him if he's not playing, because nobody knows which version of s1mple we're going to get. So all the stuff that was happening when I originally got told was them trying to hash out a deal. And this is a money deal.
I'm told they paid a fee for the loan for three months, as they did prior when he played literally one series. Basically, there will be an option after three months to buy him permanently at a reduced buyout.
My understanding is that s1mple did have a couple of offers, but he chose this one because he's been assured that if he enjoys playing there, they are going to rebuild the team around him and NiKo.
S1mple joined Falcons on loan at the end of September for three months. Multiple sources claim that Nikola "NiKo" Kovac will move to the team after PW Shanghai Major 2024. In this case, they'd barely have time to play together. If Richard's sources are accurate, the two stars might eventually end up on the same roster for longer. The journalist added that he has no information about a potential signing of m0NESY, mentioned in KRL's report.
On October 21, s1mple played debut matches at TWC 2024 after his year-long break. At first, it seemed like the superstar significantly dropped down in terms of performance. But starting from the second map of the day, he put out quite a performance, showing multi-kill after multi-kill and even won almost an ace clutch. Falcons lost two bo3 and were eliminated, but the Ukrainian was the best player among them.
