Saadhak explains why LOUD are taking their time to find new Valorant player

LOUD captain Matias ‘Saadhak’ Delipetro has revealed the thought process behind the team’s search for a new Valorant fifth player. According to him, it is “difficult” to find a player who checks all the boxes.

The Argentinian IGL laid the rumors about his future to rest as he signed a new contract that he will keep tied to LOUD until the end of 2025.

With Felipe ‘Less’ Basso and Arthur ‘tuyz’ Vieira in talks with LOUD about a contract renewal and Cauan ‘cauanzin’ Pereira having a year left on his contract, the Brazilian giants only need to find a replacement for Erick ‘aspas’ Santos, who is open to offers ahead of the 2024 season.

LOUD have been linked with a host of players in recent weeks, including Gustavo ‘GuhRVN’ Ferreira and Ilan ‘havoc’ Eloy. The latter, who is regarded as one of Brazil’s hottest talents, would be a plug-and-play fix as he also plays the duelist role, but recent reports suggest that he is on his way to FURIA.

Speaking on his stream after the announcement of his contract renewal, Saadhak explained that, with aspas out of the team, he wants to try something different next year.

“I think havoc is really good, but I wanted to try something different with LOUD for next year. We don’t need to find a new aspas because there’s only one. There is no point in trying to find the same things in a new person. I could end up destroying him.”

“The duelist [role] is not the problem,” he added. “We have many talented duelists in Brazil. The problem is finding a duelist who isn’t all about aiming. I need to find a guy who has good aim and a good head on his shoulders.

“Do you know how hard that is? Generally, the players who are more skilled play as duelists. And the players who have better macro and game sense are initiators or controllers.”

Explaining that he wants the new fifth player to be flexible and experienced, Saadhak said that he has a lot of names on his shortlist, including “several options” that the community doesn’t know about. The main problem, he noted, is getting organizations to come to an understanding.

“There are many shameless organizations, let’s put it this way,” he said. “A lot of organizations that don’t won’t let go of players, that ask for millions. It gets really difficult.”

Saadhak addresses fRoD’s future

One of the main questions about LOUD’s lineup for 2024 surrounds the head coach position. According to recent rumors, the Brazilian team is considering moving on from Daniel ‘fRoD’ Montaner, who took over from Matheus ‘bzkA’ Tarasconi after their 2022 Valorant Champions title.

Saadhak said that the organization is still discussing options with fRoD, but he admitted that the language barrier has made it hard sometimes for the North American coach to work with the players.

“We haven’t made a decision yet,” he said. “fRoD is very good. What he has taught me this last year… My God.

“What made things a bit hard for him wasn’t his game knowledge but the language. It got in the way a little bit because the kids don’t speak English. fRoD speaks Spanish, you’ve seen from his interviews that he will use the three languages at the same time.

“He won a lot of majors in CS. He is very good, very good. But at the same time, being a coach, you need to be able to speak to your players properly. It is a challenge. We’re still evaluating things.”

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