The real reason why JackeyLove almost missed the LPL Spring Split

William Davis Published 29/04/2020

New information about Yu “JackeyLove” Wen-Bo and why he missed the first half of the LPL Spring Split has surfaced through Weibo.

Former World Champion JackeyLove was one of the biggest names coming to the free agency by the end of 2019. Every team in China had its eye on a player who’s considered one of the best ADC players in the region, if not the world. The community was shocked to learn that no team had signed JackeyLove for the spring and began speculating as to the reasons why. Now, the details have been revealed through Weibo and the situation is more complicated than people anticipated.

JackeyLove a victim of mismanagement

JackeyLove’s older cousin was in charge of all of his deals and contracts while the ADC focused on playing. JackeyLove’s plan was to stay with Invictus Gaming for another season, but his cousin had another plan. The cousin forced JackeyLove to sign a contract of intent with an organization. Once it was time to sign an official contract, JackeyLove and his cousin discovered that the terms were less than favorable, so JackeyLove refused to sign. Allegedly, the organization in question was Royal Never Give Up.

The penalty for refusing to sign the contract was 10 million CNY, roughly $140,000 USD. Once the organizations learn about that penalty, they stopped pursuing JackeyLove and went in a different directions with its roster.

It has also been said that JackeyLove’s cousin was taking bids for the player’s contract and kept raising the buyout price. The cousin’s intent was to keep a commission like agents do in traditional sports. According to this version of the story, the team owners came together and decided to boycott JackeyLove by not signing him. Things got worse once they learned about the contract of intent and the penalty. The team owners also worked with different platforms so JackeyLove couldn’t stream, cutting off any possible source of income for the player. According to this version, JackeyLove’s reputation was deeply damaged and no team in the LPL was willing to deal with the situation.

JackeyLove joins TES

JackeyLove would end up joining Top Esports just in time for week six in the regular season. At that point, the team was struggling to find its footing in the competition and needed a change. With JackeyLove on the team, TES found itself advancing through the playoffs bracket and making it to the finals.

Making it that far wasn’t easy, and it certainly wasn’t cheap.

After rounds of kind negotiations, we now welcome Yu ‘JackeyLove’ Wenbo to join the TES family as our ADCarry using the ID: TESJackeyLove. pic.twitter.com/pE7TZyZb1M
— TOPESPORTS (@TOP_Esports_) April 3, 2020

There isn’t a clear explanation about who ended up paying for the original contract penalty incurred by JackeyLove. The cousin implied that JackeyLove paid for it with his own money so that he could join TES. Other claims say that TES paid for it, but added a clause to JackeyLove’s contract that stipulates that the organization takes part of the money he makes streaming.

This might be JackeyLove’s final chance to make good on his name and thus far, it’s paying off. TES is close to getting its first title in the LPL.

The cousin in question has since clarified that he no longer works with JackeyLove.

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