Leviatán announced the signing of Valorant superstar Erick ‘aspas’ Santos on October 11 to much fan fair as the player is expected to make the team a contender for international titles.
The off-season saga surrounding aspas started even before the 2023 VCT season was over. A report came out ahead of Valorant Champions 2023 that his team at the time, LOUD, was having internal issues and that aspas was not expected to sign a new contract after his current one expired.
Fast forward to the start of the off-season and aspas announced, on September 11, that he was open to hearing offers from VCT teams from around the world.
Much speculation ensued over his next destination as it seemed like the only limitation for most organizations was price as most partnered teams in VCT Americas are downsizing their operations.
Finalmente el tornado llegó a Buenos Aires 🇦🇷BIENVENIDO @ASPASZIN 🐉🌪️#SomosLatam🌎 #BeLeviatán🐉 pic.twitter.com/ppOxbHRefp
— LEVIATAN (@LeviatanGG) October 11, 2023
Leviatán ended up signing the star sniper after the dust settled, keeping him in the North American league. The Brazilian player opened up in an interview with Spanish content creator Lembo about why he chose Leviatán after leaving the team he won a World Championship with.
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apsas reveals why he wanted to play Valorant for Leviatán
The 20-year-old player said that he wasn’t chasing a big paycheck this off-season, and was instead looking to see which team had the best pieces to get him back to international tournaments.
“I chose Leviatán because I like players that they have… My main goal is to win so for this I need a good team… My main goal wasn’t money or anything, it was to win. So basically I was looking at things and I think that the Leviatán team is very good, the core is very strong,” aspas said.
The core that will be playing with aspas in 2024 will be the team’s IGL Francisco ‘kiNgg’ Aravena, Agustin ‘Nozwerr’ Ibarra and Roberto ‘Mazino’ Bugueño. To bolster their firepower, Leviatán also brought in former The Guard Duelist Ian ‘tex’ Botsch, who will switch roles for the squad so aspas can shine on Jett.
aspas and his new team will have to prove that their new lineup can hang with the best in VCT Americas as the 2024 VCT season starts off with the VCT Americas KICK-OFF tournament.