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| Team Liquid Philippines has apparently released Sultan "AeronnShikii" Muhammad as clearance issues remain pending. Moonton (file photo) |
QUEZON CITY—Team Liquid Philippines admitted on Thursday night that it is ready to let go of Sultan "AeronnShikii" Muhammad, as the needed clearance for him to finally play in MPL Philippines could take longer than expected.
The team previously announced on Friday, right before the start of Season 17, that Muhammad would not see action in Week 1 "due to pending administrative requirements related to the competition."
Nearly a week later, however, Liquid PH revealed that the said prerequisites would only be met by late April or early May.
"The problem was timing. We announced him before we had full clarity on when his pending administrative requirements would be resolved. That was a mistake we own. When we finally got clarity, the range was anywhere from mid-season to the start of playoffs," the club said in a statement.
Liquid PH scrambled to find a new gold laner after Kiel "Oheb" Soriano was said to have left the team all of a sudden.
The team initially placed Soriano on the inactive list, but the star gold laner, through his legal counsel, claimed he had already quit the team.
Soriano is now a content creator for Honor of Kings, the top rival right now of Mobile Legends Bang Bang.
Liquid PH sought help from its sister team, Team Liquid Indonesia, and the latter agreed to loan Muhammad to its Filipino counterpart, with Kim "Daiki" Sebanes elevated from Liquid PH's academy squad supposedly to be Muhammad's backup.
Sebanes, though, got the start in Week 1 following Muhammad's clearance issues, and the former, following a sensational performance that helped Liquid PH secure a 2-0 start to the season that silenced preseason critics, was named to the Team of the Week.
"That kind of uncertainty is something we could not build around. Not because of anything AeronnShikii did wrong, but because we needed a complete roster from Day 1. Starting MPL without our gold laner affects our standings, limits what we can develop during the regular season, and cuts into our EWC preparation. We could not do that to the team, or honestly, to Aeronnshikii either," Liquid PH continued.
The club then announced that Muhammad is about to depart from its boot camp, hinting that it would go all-Filipino the rest of the way.
"He is leaving the boot camp now. We have been working closely with him on what comes next, and we are in serious talks to make sure he lands well. We will share more on that soon. He showed us a lot, and we respect him for it," Liquid PH further said.
Meanwhile, Sebanes will still not be alone in being the designated sniper for the team, as Dave "Teddy" Viana has been promoted to the first squad.
Viana was Liquid PH's surprise package during the Sibol Asian Games requalifiers, helping the club win the tournament and making Allec "Snap" Alvarado the new head coach for the MLBB quintet heading to Nagoya.
"We are genuinely excited about Teddy. He came up through our MDL system, and earning a spot on the main roster is not easy. He went through the whole process. He earned it. We believe in him, and we hope you will too," Liquid PH further said.
To make room for Viana, Santi Noble was assigned to Liquid PH's academy team, which is currently struggling with a 1-2 record in Group B of MDL Philippines Season 7.
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