Team Liquid has finally completed its CS:GO roster with the signing of Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis, who recently bought his player contract from Virtus.pro and became a free agent.
This signing comes right in time for the IEM Rio Major 2022, providing the North American esports organization with a massive boost in its morale that might help them in qualifying for the playoffs through the legends stage.
YEKINDAR has already competed with Team Liquid in four different tournaments as a stand-in and his induction into the team was inevitable. The sanctions imposed against Russia was the only thing hindering the organization's move to go ahead and sign him.
YEKINDAR had announced that he was no longer obligated to the Russian esports organization, Virtus.pro, after having bought himself out of his contract. A few days after, Team Liquid has finally gone ahead and completed its much awaited acquisition of the Latvian talent.
With this move Liquid has finally completed its CS:GO roster, four months after Richard "shox" Papillon's departure from the team in June.
Even without a permanent fifth player, Liquid continued competing in tournaments with YEKINDAR as its fixed stand-in. Despite the irony, the team's performance shot up ever since his arrival.
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Team Liquid obtained the only available legend status at the IEM Rio 2022: American RMR.
The organization wanted to sign YEKINDAR as its fifth permanent player but he was still under contract with VP and this was proving to be a huge hinderance in the signing process, due to all the sanctions imposed against Russia.
During that time, Steve "jokasteve" Perino - General Manager of Team Liquid, had tried to reassure the community that they were trying to work on a "good long-term" deal with YEKINDAR and would hopefully have something positive soon.
Jokasteve on YEKINDAR
Now, the transaction has finally completed right in time for the IEM Rio Major 2022, allowing Liquid to step in as a complete unit which will surely further add to their morale and confidence. It will be interesting to see how the team goes on to perform from here on out.