After lengthy negotiations and a hefty buyout, NIP have completed the signing of Swedish phenom Brollan.
After a month of wait, Ninjas in Pyjamas have finally confirmed the signing of Ludvig "Brollan" Brolin. The blockbuster moves see Sweden's best all united under NIP.
International Fnatic
Brollan and KRIMZ were the holdovers from Fnatic's Swedish past. While for the veteran, the international move was a new chapter in a legendary career, for Brollan this was an uneasy move that he did not feel comfortable with the change of language and culture.
After the disastrous start with Jackinho, the boys in the black and orange had a stint of success with Smooya. After being undefeated in tier 2, they were unable to replicate that in the tier 1 LANs. This led to Brollan benching himself which kicked off the move to NIP.
Hefty buyout for NIP
The initial rumor for NIP's buyout bid was around $600 thousand. According to reports, the bid was declined by fnatic with a rumored asking price of over $800 thousand. While the final buyout hasn't been revealed, we can be confident in saying that this is one of the biggest buyouts in CS history. This correlates directly with the 2+ years left on Brollan's contract.
"I’m excited to take the next step in my career with NIP. I go way back with some of the players and I really feel like it’s time to lift some trophies together."
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NIP: +Brollan - ???
The biggest mystery right now is the player NIP will remove for Brollan. HLTV's report states that the likely candidates are Nicolas "Plopski" Gonzalez Zamora, or Love "phzy" Smidebrant. Both players are young enough to go down to the Academy roster, where they will likely be one of the best players. If they cut phzy, es3tag is likely to go back into the AWPing role, the cap he donned back in the failing Cloud9 project.
"We’ve been looking at Brollan for years now — every serious team has. In my mind it hasn’t been a question of whether he would join, but when, and I think he’s chosen a fantastic time."
While this move solves a lot of the consistent fragging issues NIP has been facing, the issue of Device's absence continues. Without the Danish Superstar, this roster is borderline top 10. With him, this team could be one of the top contenders at every event. The reports make it seem unlikely that we will see Device in the Ninjas by the time of the Major. But for NIP fans that is the announcement, they wait for every day.
NIP to play RMR's with Brollan
With the roster lock for EPL in effect already, NIP will be unable to use Brollan in the playoffs for EPL. But luckily for NIP, Brollan will be able to play in the EU RMR for PGL Antwerp. This means that we will see the Swedish Superstar competing from April 21 in Bucharest, Romania.
Stay tuned to Esports.gg, to see how NIP's final run together at ESL Pro League Season 15 goes. Will they finally lift the prestigious trophy against all odds?
