LOUD’s VALORANT in-game leader Saadhak has once again denied that there was ever a rift between star player aspas and the rest of the LOUD squad leading up to VALORANT Champions this month.
Right before the competition started, esports insider Rod “Slasher” Breslau reported on July 25 that the relationship between the team and aspas had soured and there was a high chance aspas would leave LOUD ahead of VCT 2024. On the same day, Brazilian outlet Mais Esports reported that NRG was keen on signing aspas.
Saadhak said back then that the team was “united and focused” on winning Champions, and now that the competition is over and LOUD grabbed a third place, the Argentinian captain once again denied there were issues in the squad.
“None of it existed, they really did our team dirty,” Saadhak said. “They created rumors out of nowhere. That aspas had gotten into a fight with Less, that aspas was talking to another team. For fuck’s sake, we were just practicing. I talked to aspas, and he said he didn’t know anything, that he hadn’t even talked to LOUD.”
Saadhak carried on, pointing out that the rumors have stopped ever since and questioned whether or not the reports were just to take out LOUD’s focus leading up to Champions.
Related: Live VALORANT 2023 offseason tracker: Free agents, roster moves, and rumors for 2024 season
Saadhak, aspas, and Less constitute the core of LOUD’s VALORANT squad, having been a part of the organization since February 2022 and winning VALORANT Champions 2022. Their contracts will expire at the end of 2023, according to the VCT Global Contract Database, so nothing stops any of them from leaving LOUD ahead of 2024.
While there’s uncertainty surrounding LOUD’s future for 2024, the head coach Daniel “fRoD” Montaner said in a press conference after LOUD were knocked out of the tournament that the goal is to fix the issues they have in-game and come back stronger next year.
