Degster prefers to join a European CS:GO team if he can’t play for NAVI

Abdul “⁠degster⁠” Gasanov has become one of the most desirable assets in the CS:GO market following his benching from Team Spirit earlier this month.

The AWPer had been playing for Spirit since January 2021 and played an important role in the team’s Cinderella run at PGL Antwerp Major in May, where they reached the semifinals of the $1 million Valve-sponsored event. Degster was moved to the bench and put on the transfer list because he didn’t want to stay in Serbia, the country Spirit relocated from Russia, long term.

Now, degster is having an opportunity to play for OG, the first international team of his career, as the Polish AWPer Mateusz “mantuu” Wilczewski fell sick and could not attend the BLAST Premier Spring Final. Degster was called as an emergency substitute and already helped OG to upset Natus Vincere yesterday in the opening round. The 20-year-old Russian wants every European team to know that he is capable of playing in an English-speaking lineup.

“This [playing with OG] is a chance for me to show that I can play in a team that speaks English,” degster said in an interview with Pley.gg. “As I am thinking right now, I will never join a CIS team. “Only if that would be NAVI, in other situations I prefer Europe more than CIS.”

Degster averaged a 1.16 rating with Spirit across PGL Antwerp Major’s Legends and Champions Stage, according to HLTV’s statistics, and had a decent impact against NAVI yesterday at BLAST Premier Spring Final, even though he did not have much time to practice with OG. This makes him a strong candidate to find a home in another tier-one CS:GO team ahead of the next Major cycle.