Singaporean organization Bleed eSports recently showed interest in signing Virtus.pro’s CS:GO team as it looks to enter Valve’s FPS title, Dexerto has learned.
Sources told Dexerto that Bleed enquired Virtus.pro about signing the CS:GO team but talks quickly ceased as the two organizations were too far apart in their valuation of the lineup.
The discussions did not include Mareks ‘YEKINDAR’ Gaļinskis, who has been playing for Team Liquid in recent weeks. The Latvian star’s contractual situation is unknown, with Liquid general manager Steve ‘jokasteve’ Perino stating on August 11 that they were working with the player “to hopefully have some good long-term news soon.”
Virtus.pro’s CS:GO team has been playing under the name ‘Outsiders’ because of the sanctions placed by several tournament organizers on the Russian organization, which allegedly has ties to the Kremlin. ESL and PGL decided to let Virtus.pro’s players compete under a neutral name, while BLAST decided against inviting Russian-based teams “for the foreseeable future” and canceled the Spring season’s CIS qualifier.
Currently ranked 17th in the world, according to HLTV.org, Outsiders underwent two roster changes at the end of May, replacing YEKINDAR and Timur ‘buster’ Tulepov with David ‘n0rb3r7’ Danielyan and Petr ‘fame’ Bolyshev. The team ended the season with a 13th-16th place finish at IEM Cologne 2022 after losing to Cloud9 and FURIA in the group stage.
Despite the unsuccessful pursuit of Virtus.pro’s team, Bleed remain committed to entering CS:GO and have already begun contacting players, the sources added. On July 20, Bleed CEO Mervyn Goh wrote on Twitter that the organization would be expanding into CS:GO in 2023, and set his sights on a European team.
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Who are Bleed eSports?
Based in Singapore, Bleed officially ventured into esports in September 2021 with the signing of Valorant team UwU, the top seed from Malaysia and Singapore in the VCT SEA Stage 3 Challengers Playoffs.
Before the end of the year, Bleed obtained a $50.8 million investment from Asia Venture Capital to expand their operations. In a series of high-profile moves, the Singaporean organization signed Jacob ‘pyth’ Mourujärvi and Max ‘maxie’ Lönnström to their Valorant team, and appointed veteran Nikola ‘LEGIJA’ Ninić as head coach.
https://t.co/mnUXTxVBxhLooking forward to 2022!
— BLEED Esports (@ggBleed) December 23, 2021
Earlier this year, it was revealed that Bleed had offered Acend Valorant star Mehmet Yağız ‘cNed’ İpek a $1 million-a-year deal to join its team. The Turkish star ended up turning down the lucrative offer to stay with the 2021 Valorant world champions.
On August 15, Bleed parted ways with their Valorant team, who failed to qualify for Valorant Champions after finishing third in the APAC Last-Chance qualifier. The Singaporean organization is believed to be in the running for a partnership spot in Riot Games’ upcoming Pacific international league in Valorant. The league will begin with 10 teams only but will expand to 14 by 2027, offering promoted sides a two-year stay at the highest level of competition.