YEKINDAR reportedly considering leaving Virtus Pro after PGL Antwerp Major

The organization is open to negotiate its CS:GO star with other teams.

Photo by Adela Sznajder via ESL Gaming

Mareks “YEKINDAR” Gaļinskis is weighing his options and could depart Virtus Pro after the conclusion of the PGL Antwerp Major, according to a report by Dexerto today.

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The star rifler had already admitted in March that his future with VP, a Russian-owned organization, was looking uncertain due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February and all the sanctions imposed on Russian organizations. VP are currently playing with the tag Outsiders because multiple tournament organizers, such as ESL and PGL, prohibited them and other Russian-backed teams from displaying their brand and sponsors in their tournaments.

Should YEKINDAR decide to leave VP after the PGL Antwerp Major, the organization would facilitate a deal, sources have told Dexerto. The Latvian superstar was elected the eighth-best CS:GO player in the world in 2021 and is considered by pundits as one of the best, if not the best, entry fragger in the world. A lot of teams could use his skills, and given that YEKINDAR speaks English fluently, he would be a perfect fit for an international project.

YEKINDAR rose to prominence while he was still playing for pro100 between 2018 and 2020 and became even better in VP. He has been playing for the CIS squad since May 2020 and helped them win tournaments such as Flashpoint season two in December 2020 and cs_summit seven in January 2021. If VP loses him, it would be a huge loss for the CS:GO lineup.

The PGL Antwerp Major will run from May 9 to 22. VP barely qualified for it and will start the $1 million competition in the Challengers Stage among teams such as G2, Vitality, Astralis, and Team Liquid.

Author
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Leonardo Biazzi
Staff writer and CS:GO lead. Leonardo has been passionate about games since he was a kid and graduated in Journalism in 2018. Before Leonardo joined Dot Esports in 2019, he worked for Brazilian outlet Globo Esporte. Leonardo also worked for HLTV.org between 2020 and 2021 as a senior writer, until he returned to Dot Esports and became part of the staff team.