Faker is reportedly exploring options with LCS teams

Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, the most popular League of Legends player, is a free agent after his contract with T1 expires and is considering offers from LCS teams.

The greatest League of Legends player of all time, Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, is exploring offers from several regions, including the LCS, according to a report from Blix.gg. Faker enters the offseason as a free agent and is qualified to talk with any team as his contract with T1 expired on November 21. According to the reports, FlyQuest and Team Liquid both showed interest in acquiring the three-time world champion. After having a quick conversation with Faker, Team Liquid has reportedly made him an offer.

Liquid constantly makes investments in their players and tries to assemble a team that can compete at both the domestic and international levels and they also have the financial capacity to pay Faker generous compensation. Obviously, joining Team Liquid would be the easiest move for him, but owing to import restrictions, they would also need to find a domestic top laner or jungler who speaks Korean to round out their anticipated roster.

Will Faker’s decade-long stint with T1 come to an end?

While the reports may seem surprising to some, this has always been Faker’s pattern in the offseason. It has been witnessed many times in the past, that Faker was in talks with multiple teams but the three-time World Champion always chooses to remain with T1, the only team he has ever represented in his professional career. It’s also not the first time the T1 superstar is said to have declined multi-million dollar offers from other regions. In the previous two years, Faker turned down contracts worth $10 million annually from North America’s LCS and $20 million annually from China’s League of Legends Pro League.

 

With his close connections to the Korean organization and his role as co-owner as well as shareholder of T1, the Legendary mid-laner is unlikely to move to North America. According to additional reports, Faker is merely evaluating his options to raise his offer from T1 and there is a high probability that he will stay with them. In case he decides to join LCS, Faker would need to sell his T1 shares in order to leave the team, similar to how Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg sold his TSM shares to join Squad Liquid last year. Even though the North American teams might offer the champion mid-laner absurd sums of money, there are too many indications that Faker still has at least one more LCK season and perhaps even another Worlds appearance in his box to deliver to T1.

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