Fnatic has apparently decided to remove Owen “smooya” Butterfield from the active roster following a lackluster start to the year. Also in a series of tweets, the British AWPer has also hinted at the transfer.
According to a report released today by Dexerto, the AWPer has been benched as a result of Fnatic’s 9-12th place finish at IEM Katowice. In an additional tweet the writer of the report, Luís Mira, the benched was decided even before the squad was eliminated from the competition.
On his Twitter account, smooya inadvertently verified the information about being benched. “Airports are brutal to receive bad news in, flight leaving now! Stream shortly after I land, see you then”, he tweeted.
After joining the team in October 2021, smooya quickly made an impression, assisting the team in winning DreamHack Open November after only a month together and averaging a 1.22 rating at the end of the year. Since then, the team’s record has deteriorated, with the team failing to make an impression at either the Funspark ULTI Finals or IEM Katowice, while smooya’s average rating has decreased to 1.01 since the beginning of the year.
Read more: NAVI has been accused of breaking fair play principles at IEM Katowice 2022
According to the insider, Fnatic has already started looking for an AWPer and are in discussions with a few possible newcomers. The official announcement of the roster adjustment is scheduled to be made in the near future.
