When Fnatic and Alliance exited early from the League of Legends World Championships, it seemed changes to both teams could be imminent. Now sources close to both organizations tell the Daily Dot that that Fnatic AD Carry Martin “Rekkles” Larsson has had preliminary talks with Alliance about joining as a replacement for their current player Erik “Tabzz” van Helvert.
Talks apparently began after both teams were eliminated from the World Championships. Nothing is set in stone, however, and if the move is to happen several hurdles will have to be cleared. Alliance’s player contracts are reportedly close to expiring, while Fnatic players are signed to two-year contracts. That means Alliance would need to “buy out” the remaining time on Larsson’s contract.
The deal could stall, however, depending on how much that buyout would cost. Time is not on Alliance’s side, however, and the organization is trying to resolve the potential transfer as quickly as possible. It may also offer van Helvert as a makeweight in the deal.
Larsson was the top-ranked AD carry last split, with the all time record of kills in a single split and the second highest KDA of all-time in League of Legends history.
“The team and management have identified that the bottom lane is the area that needs improvement and when they went out of worlds they quickly made Rekkles their number one target,” one source close to Alliance said.
A Fnatic source added: “He already had talks with the Alliance players about possibly joining. It’s not an easy decision for him but he definitely wants to win things and feels that Alliance represent his best chance of doing that. He’s hungry for success.”
Several high level players also told the Daily Dot that Fnatic and Alliance had played several practice matches together, but switched bottom lanes, both support and AD carry.
Speculation has been rampant that Rekkles might be leaving Fnatic, whether for Alliance or not. Earlier today, a thread on Reddit pointed out that the player’s Facebook page no longer declared him the “marksman for Fnatic” as it previously did—and he had removed his teammates from his Twitter account. Shortly thereafter, someone claiming to be ex-Fnatic staffer pointed out that the team’s Twitter no longer followed the player. Since then the account has re-followed Larsson and reiterated that he’s still under contract.
For those over in the @reddit thread: @FnaticRekkles is contracted throughout the 2015 season! #BREATHE
— FNATIC (@FNATIC) October 19, 2014
A source close to the player told us that if the deal with Alliance can’t be agreed he may still leave Fnatic to make his own team, potentially with Nicolaj “Incarnati0n” Jensen. This move would be dependent on whether or not Jensen, who is currently serving a lifetime ban from competitive play, can have that ruling overturned on appeal with Riot.
“Martin knows Nicolaj and considers him to be the best mid player in the West,” the source said. “In an ideal world they would already be playing together and they hope they can make that happen. He wants [to be on a] team that wants to win as much as him even if he has to make it himself. He’s prepared to do anything to make it happen.”
Fnatic chief gaming officer Patrik “cArn” Sattermon declined to confirm the talks. “I can just say that it’s difficult for me to comment on speculations and rumors,” Sattermon said. “But we are obviously keen to continue working with Martin next year and beyond.”
Alliance management were unavailable for comment at the time of publication.
