Fnatic top laner turned jungler Gabriël “Bwipo” Rau will not renew his contract with Fnatic, which runs out on Nov. 16, according to a report by Dot Esports on Friday.
Bwipo will finish his four-year tenure with the organization after placing fifth in the League of Legends European Championship and qualifying for the League of Legends World Championships through the summer playoffs. He bowed out of the international competition in the group stage after going 1-5 and finishing last in Group C after his team made an emergency substitution in the bot lane.
The player may return to his lane of choice next year, but his representation has been touting his talents in other roles including mid lane, jungle and bot lane according to the report. Several teams have shown interest, including League Championship Series team Team Liquid, who could make the move if their current top laner, Barney “Alphari” Morris, decides to move on, according to Dot’s reporting. Alphari is contracted to Team Liquid until Nov. 23, 2023 and takes up one of the organization’s two import slots.
Bwipo’s history with Fnatic
Bwipo started his career on Fnatic in 2018 as a substitute for veteran top laner Paul “sOAZ” Boyer. As a sub who would come in and out of the lineup, Bwipo rode the success of the organization’s best year to date as they placed top four at the Mid-Season Invitational and second at Worlds 2018. After that season, sOAZ moved on and Bwipo became the starter. That is until the 2021 LEC summer split in which he made a role change to jungle to accommodate the team’s new signing Adam “Adam” Maanane and to fill the gap left by jungler Oskar “Selfmade” Boderek.
With Fnatic, Bwipo has two EU LCS regular season titles, two playoff titles and an LEC Regional Finals win under his belt along with international accolades.
