Ninjas in Pyjamas is reportedly eyeing up Natus Vincere Junior (NAVI Junior) player Danyyl "headtr1ck" Valitov, after benching Patrick "es3tag" Hansen earlier this week.
That's according to dextero's Esports Editor Luís Mira, who reports that sources claim that the team is looking to fill the now-vacant spot on their roster. The 18 year-old player has had a promising start to his career, having joined NAVI's main team as a stand-in player at both ESL Pro League season 15 and BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2022.
The claim comes just days after Ninjas in Pyjamas benched its rifler es3tag, after spending a year on the team's roster. Upon announcing the change, Ninjas in Pyjamas stated that it had been "evaluating the team composition overall," following a challenging 2022 season for the team.
NAVI revealed back in September that they were open to offers to acquire headtr1ck, after he was benched from the junior team.
Should the reports prove to be true, headtr1ck could be a good choice for es3tag's replacement, as he has experience both as a rifler and AWPer. While he's unlikely to be able to compete at the level of legendary AWPer Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz (who left the team to join Astralis in October), he could nontheless prove useful to turning the team's fortunes around in 2023.
He's a strong player too - helping NAVI secure a 1st-3rd placement at the BLAST Premier: Fall Groups in September this year, ending the tournament with a decisive 2-0 victoy over Team Vitality.
Whoever Ninjas in Pyjamas chooses to replace es3tag, they'll need to decide quickly. The team is due to compete at IEM Katowice 2023, which will kick off on January 31 next year.
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