FURIA bench HEN1

The Brazilian AWPer will not travel with the team to take part in the BLAST Premier Global Finals.

FURIA have announced that Henrique "⁠HEN1⁠" Teles will be on the bench while he sorts out his future. In an open letter, FURIA investor André Akkari has explained that the organisation decided to respect the player's wish to reunite with his twin brother, Lucas "⁠LUCAS1⁠" Teles, after they spent the last 18 months apart.

HEN1, who will not travel with the team to Europe for their first tournament of the year, the BLAST Premier Global Finals, is reportedly committed to Raphael "⁠cogu⁠" Camargo's new project, which also features the five players who represented MIBR at the end of 2020 in the BLAST Premier Fall Season and in Flashpoint 2.

"Throughout 2020, he [HEN1] expressed, always in a very clear and transparent way, his wish to play alongside Lucas," Akkari said.

"We were never hurt or resentful, but that was always a very remote possibility. There was no room in FURIA, our team has a solid core and we are very happy with it, there was no way that we could bring Lucas into this group. On the other hand, Lucas had not yet found a group that was solid. As such, despite Henrique's wish, it was just impossible for his dream to come true.

"But everything changed in the last few months, and everything indicates that, despite the organisation that Lucas and kNg represent, they have really come together and created something solid. When this started to happen, Henrique got really excited with the possibility, as I believe his brother did. During New Year's Eve, Lucas talked to me about this dream of his a few times."

Getting the team together will not be an easy task, however, especially after talks with MIBR broke down over salary demands and benefits. cogu said on Alexandre "⁠gAuLeS⁠" Chiqueta's stream on Wednesday that he was "treated like trash" during negotiations with the Immortals Gaming Club, MIBR's parent company, as he tried to keep the lineup under the famed organisation after some promising results.

Of the six players that are part of the project, LUCAS1 is the only one that is not under a contract. FURIA, however, are allegedly willing to sell HEN1 below his market value to facilitate a move.

"FURIA will not stand in the way of that path," Akkari said. "An offer was made for Henrique, and just like I had promised him, we did not create any problems. Even though it was less than 10 per cent of the release clause in his contract, we left the decision in his hands.

"FURIA will never be someone's second choice. We are the biggest esports organisation in Latin America and we will be among the biggest in the world in the next few years. We only want players who really want to be in our teams, who dream of wearing our jersey like every player who is part of our lineups does.

"Henrique did that during this period. He fought, he gave his all. But now his mind is elsewhere, and to be fair, family is family. But on the other hand, we cannot want players who are not here 1000 per cent, in body and soul.

"In case Henrique cannot fulfil his dream and once again dreams of playing with us, we will analyse his return to the main team."

HEN1 has been on FURIA's books since October 2019, when he was brought in to replace Rinaldo "⁠ableJ⁠" Moda Junior. He was named the 16th best player of 2020 after helping the team to win three regional tournaments — DreamHack Masters Spring, ESL Pro League Season 12 and IEM New York —, earning an MVP medal for his displays in EPL.

HEN1's benching will give further credence to reports linking the team with a move for Triumph AWPer Paytyn "⁠junior⁠" Johnson. According to Draft5, the two organisations have agreed a deal in the region of $55,000 for the North American player.

junior may not be the only player joining FURIA in the near future, however, as Akkari noted that the organisation will soon announce "one or two players." Team coach Nicholas "⁠guerri⁠" Nogueira revealed in September that the roster will eventually have six players, saying that "internal competition is healthy for the team."

FURIA currently have:

Andrei "⁠arT⁠" Piovezan
Vinicius "⁠VINI⁠" Figueiredo
Yuri "⁠yuurih⁠" Santos
Kaike "⁠KSCERATO⁠" Cerato

Henrique "⁠HEN1⁠" Teles (benched)

Nicholas "⁠guerri⁠" Nogueira (coach)