NAVI COO: “The Boombl4 replacement was (most likely) the last”

After February 24, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the status of Russian players on the NAVI CSGO roster became unclear. A couple of days ago, the organization announced the exclusion of Kirill “boombl4” Mikhailov due to “reputational risks.”

In an interview with Michael “Olsior” Zverev, caster for Maincast, NAVI COO Oleksiy “xaoc” Kucherov addressed the current situation in the team.

“Yes, (the remaining players) have moved. Perfecto will move in just a few days. Most likely, the Boombl4 replacement was the last. I won’t speak 100%,” he said on the team’s status. 

“On the one hand, I would like to focus on Ukrainian players, but on the other hand, there are not so many of them. In the future, we will look and test some people for the position of the fifth player. “

During the interview, xaoc said that when they removed Boombl4 from the team, they did not know who would replace the player. But now he can say:

“We have a couple of options, but there are nuances that need to be addressed for all of them. Only later will it become clear which of these options we will work on.”

The team has withdrawn from the upcoming tournaments, including IEM Dallas, and is conducting tests within the roster.

The buster rumors

Image: PGL

Olexiy “xaoc” Kucherov also clarified the rumors of Timur “buster” Telepov being targeted as the new player of NAVI.

“First, these are not rumors. I talked to the English media, and we don’t hide that we are really interested in Buster. We would like to try playing with him. But we are not ready to negotiate with VP.

“If somehow the player can become a free agent, buy out of the organization, or something like that, we are ready to negotiate with him. But otherwise, it will be a different player.”