According to Dexerto's Lus Mira and HLTV, former NAVI Junior AWPer Daniil #headtr1ck Valitov is being courted by Ninjas in Pyjamas.
The decision has already been made, and the action only depends on the Ukrainian player's transfer from Natus Vincere being finalized, according to the most recent information from the esports media. Other AWPers were taken into consideration, including Iulian #regali Harjău of the Copenhagen Flames, with whom discussions were held.
The removal of Patrick #es3tag Hansen from the starting squad by Ninjas in Pyjamas is another indication that a deal for the Ukrainian AWPer is possibly imminent. On Wednesday, the Dane was benched and given time to consider his choices.
Following their long-running issues with the position following Nicolai #device Reedtz's decision to leave the starting lineup in late 2021, Ninjas in Pyjamas have decided to add a new primary AWPer.
It was most recently held by Fredrik #REZ Sterner, who for the first time in his career assumed the role in a principal capacity and has since come under intense scrutiny from analysts. Prior to that, es3tag carried out the sniping responsibilities after Love #phzy Smidebrant rejoined the Young Ninjas academy team.
The 18-year-old #headtr1ck is now affiliated with NAVI after working for the group for the previous two years as part of their academy programme, first playing with NAVI Junior and then with NAVI Youth.
After two brief spells as a stand-in for the primary team during the ESL Pro League Season 15 and the BLAST Premier Fall Groups, where he averaged ratings of 0.97 over six maps and 1.12 over four maps, respectively, he was placed on the transfer list in September.
After watching the young player play with the team and speaking with the esports media at the Fall Groups in August, Natus Vincere's coach Andrey #B1ad3 Gorodenskiy said headtr1ck is “not ready to play versus tier one comfortably enough” and cited his lack of experience and lack of understanding of macro as two major reasons.