G2 close in on NiKo deal

The Bosnian prodigy appears to have played his final game for FaZe on Friday as a move to the Berlin-based organisation looms on the horizon.

FaZe star Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač is on the brink of completing a transfer to G2, HLTV.org has learned. It appears increasingly likely that the Bosnian will feature for his new team in the BLAST Premier Fall Series as everything points to an agreement being close at hand.

Sources have told HLTV.org that FaZe are already looking at potential candidates to replace NiKo if needed as they too will compete in the BLAST tournament, with their first match scheduled for October 29.

HLTV.org and 1pv.fr first reported on G2's interest in NiKo on September 18. It was reported that a transfer could take several weeks to finalise due to the complexity of the deal — which will involve one of the biggest transfer fees in the game — and the busy schedule that both teams had ahead of them.

As reported last month, François "⁠amanek⁠" Delaunay is the likeliest to get the axe as G2 look to add even more firepower to the team with the signing of a star player who has six MVP medals to his name and made four consecutive appearances in the top-20 ranking between 2016 and 2019.

NiKo has been a part of FaZe's setup since March 2017, when he was signed from mousesports for a reported fee in the region of $500,000. He has won several international titles under the North American organisation and was close to finally adding a Major crown to his collection at ELEAGUE Major Boston 2018 before his team lost the final to Cloud9 in dramatic fashion.

Trophies have been hard to come by for FaZe in the last two years, even after the high-profile signing of Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David in September 2019. After enduring a rough patch of form following this year's player break, the team had a triumphant run in IEM New York — at a time when G2 and FaZe were already locked in talks —, but then dropped off in DreamHack Open Fall, finishing ninth in the Regional Major Ranking (RMR) tournament.

G2 have also struggled for form since returning from the player break. The French team have won just seven of their last 20 matches, dropping from fifth in the world rankings to 11th. They have been placed in Group C of BLAST Premier Fall Series alongside Astralis, FURIA and MIBR, with their first match pitting them against Andrei "⁠arT⁠" Piovezan's side on November 2.

G2 declined to comment on this report.