paiN join race for FalleN
A report from Dust2 Brasil this afternoon indicates that Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo is now being headhunted by another Brazilian organization: paiN. The two have been talking "informally" about joining, however the deal is far from reaching any sort of conclusion. FalleN has confirmed the interest and ongoing negotiations during an interview that is yet to be published.
The report details that the AWPer and IGL will first take a meeting with FURIA as previously confirmed by FURIA Co-owner Andre Akkari in a statement to fans. While the exact nature of the meeting remains unclear, it appears that it will be in hopes of coaxing the player to join the starting lineup. Who exactly FalleN will be replacing is unknown at this time.
FalleN has spent the last year and a half as part of Imperial, an organization that rapidly came to the forefront of CS:GO in the Americas when they signed the "Last Dance" team. The roster at the time was FalleN, Fernando "fer" Alvarenga, Lincoln "fnx" Lau, Ricardo "boltz" Prass, and Vinicius "VINI" Figueiredo. Since then, fer and fnx have both left the squad while they also replaced their coach, Luis "peacemaker" Tadeu.
It is unclear why paiN is chasing FalleN at this time as the roster has become one of the most feared in the North American region and made significant waves at the 2023 BLAST Paris Major. According to the report, paiN's players have been targeted by other organizations, prompting the need to search for potential replacements.
In a statement to Dust2 Brasil, Imperial noted that they are in a period of "much market speculation" and that it is "natural that all this attention is generated around FalleN". Imperial will be undergoing an "internal restructuring" as they appear to look to live life after FalleN.
