FPX player zehN accidentally reveals roster information

Apr 10, 2021

Reading time: 2 min

FunPlus Phoenix player Jesse “zehN” Linjala has accidentally revealed information about his team’s transfer activity after discussing contract negotiations with a Finnish streamer.

According to zehN, FunPlus Phoenix is actively recruiting an in-game leader. The organization is currently negotiating a contract with Chris “chrisJ” De Jong. The Dutchman played for the team at the start of the year, but his loan from mousesports was not made permanent.

FPX replaced chrisJ with another stand-in, Miikka “suNny” Kemppi. But zehN has now revealed that negotiations with chrisJ are still active.

According to zehN, the only alternative to chrisJ is former Cloud9 player Alex “ALEX” McMeekin. ALEX was recently benched by Cloud9 after the American organization pulled out of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

zehN revealed that he and his teammates question whether ALEX would be interested in joining them, as the Brit is reportedly considering a transition to Valorant. He recently competed in a Valorant tournament, playing for the French team Bref.

FunPlus Phoenix does not see other options to fill the position of in-game leader. If it fails to sign ALEX or chrisJ, the team will turn to zehN to take the lead. In the stream, zehN discussed this option. He says he would be the only player who could take over but feels like he would need time to become accustomed to the role.

The leak was brought to light by Twitter user nuoriiikka, who provided a rough translation of what zehN said during the stream.

zehN talked about plenty of stuff yesterday “accidentally” on Finnish stream;
– They are actively negotiating with chrisJ but there are still some terms that are unclear, and chrisJ is still asking too much.
– Other option they are thinking about is ALEX, but they are not sure…

— Mr. Insider (@nuoriiikka) April 8, 2021

What’s next for ottoNd?

zehN also discussed the situation of his fellow countryman Otto “ottoNd” Sihvo. The AWPer was released by c0ntact Gaming at the start of the year and is unlikely to return to CSGO in the near future.

According to zehN, ottoNd has rejected multiple offers from teams since his release. He was more recently named as one of the potential players to join a new team built around Robin “flusha” Ronnquist, but this now appears unlikely. According to zehN, ottoNd has not touched CSGO in weeks and his plans for the future are unknown.