Movistar Riders has moved the British AWPer Owen “smooya” Butterfield to the bench and signed Alvaro “SunPayus” Garcia, David “dav1g” Granado Bermudo and Raúl “DeathZz” Jordán Nieto to complete the transition to an all-Spanish lineup, the organization announced today, confirming yesterday’s report.
This ends smooya’s six-month stint with the Madrid-based organization, in which he was by far the team’s best player statistically speaking. He averaged a 1.25 rating over that period, according to HLTV’s statistics, which wasn’t enough for Movistar Riders to reach new heights in the competitive scene. The 21-year-old, however, showed what he’s capable off, even though he spent almost four months on the sidelines prior to signing with Movistar Riders.
Smooya stated that the benching leaves him with his “never-ending unpredictable future,” but hinted that he’s not leaving his CS:GO career behind, a possibility that he considered in the past after VALORANT came out.
“For now I will continue to stream and fight for the FPL championship because I’m not willing to lose the form I showed over the last season (and I need some form of competition in my life),” smooya said in a Twitlonger. “Status is benched but I won’t be going anywhere, you’ll see me live everyday at Twitch. My contract ends at the start of next year, Movistar be expecting a big buyout for me. With that said if any team are interested in my services please contact Movistar or DM me.”
Smooya’s six-month spell with Movistar Riders was the longest period he spent with a professional team since he left BIG in January 2020. He had a two-month stint with Chaos and c0ntact Gaming before joining Movistar Riders in February 2021.