Movistar Riders are set to bench Raúl “DeathZz” Jordán Nieto, a report first published by Fraglider says and sources have confirmed to HLTV.org. The organisation has turned to Pere “sausol” Solsona Saumell to fill the void, with the Partizan rifler now expected to return to an Iberian team for the first time since March 2021 when he played with SAW.
The move comes after the Spanish squad suffered a string of disappointing results following the loss of star AWPer Alvaro “SunPayus” Garcia to ENCE back in August. The roster notably missed out on a spot at the IEM Rio Major after unsuccessful runs through all four RMR open qualifiers, before going on to exit ESL Pro League Season 16 is joint-last place.
sausol is poised to join his compatriots on Movistar Riders
DeathZz has been a part of Movistar Riders for a little over a year, joining the organisation for the second time in August 2021 as the roster pivoted back to a Spanish-speaking lineup. In that time, the 26-year-old averaged a modest 0.98 rating across 228 maps — the second-lowest of the squad ahead of David “dav1g” Granado Bermudo‘s 0.91.
The quintet were able to post some respectable results, picking up a first-place finish on home soil at ESL Challenger Valencia before carrying that momentum into their even more impressive 3-4th place run at IEM Cologne 2022.
This playoff appearance in the Cathedral of Counter-Strike marked the Spanish team’s first time playing on stage at a Big Event and was enough to catapult the side to their peak at No. 5 in the world ranking.
Things have slowed down in recent months, however, with their inability to qualify for the RMR after regretful losses to lower-ranked opposition in the open qualifiers being a considerable setback for the squad. The team’s woes have only continued in the time since, recently being unable to make it out of groups at ESL Challenger Rotterdam, with the roster now sitting at No. 23 in the world ranking — their lowest placement since March.
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In a bid to repair the sinking ship, Movistar Riders have turned their attention to sausol, who was signed by Partizan during their mid-August entry into CS:GO. The roster has also failed to live up to expectations since its formation, though, ending ESEA Advanced Season 42 in 25-32nd place, with the side’s peak on the world ranking being at just No. 115.
On Wednesday, Partizan president and co-founder Jovan Mijailovic fueled rumors of the Spaniard’s move to Movistar Riders, saying “we are selling one of our CSGO players to the top 30 HLTV team.”
sausol has performed admirably in spite of his team’s shortcomings, though, with the 22-year-old putting up a 1.05 rating across 36 maps in his two-month stint with the Serbian organisation.
The Spaniard’s most fruitful venture came in the form of his nine-month stint with MAD Lions. The then-European mix scored an upset over G2 en route to their 3-4th place showing at BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2021 before following this up with back-to-back victories over MOUZ in their third-place campaign at DreamHack Open November 2021.
Movistar Riders will field the following lineup:
Alejandro “mopoz” Fernández-Quejo Cano
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