UPDATED 11/14: Travis Gafford reported via Twitter that Lucas "Santorin" Larsen has verbally agreed to a one-year contract with Team Liquid.

Santorin joined FlyQuest before the start of the 2018 North American League of Legends Championship Series Summer Split and has since established himself as the best jungler in the region. After leading FLY to its first two LCS finals and its first World Championship, Santorin's stock has never been higher heading into an off-season. 

Original story:

According to a report by ESPN Esports' Jacob Wolf, Team Liquid is close to signing Barney "Alphari" Morris to a multi-year deal. Should Alphari join Team Liquid for the 2021 League of Legends Championship Series season as the report suggests, it would be his first time playing for a non-European team. 

Alphari made his debut as the starting top laner of Misfits in the 2016 European League of Legends Championship Series Spring Split, and in his three years with the organization, qualified for Worlds 2017 and nearly upset SK Telecom T1 in a five-game quarterfinal epic. Alphari has spent the last two seasons playing for Origen, who has rebranded to its parent brand Astralis following the conclusion of the 2020 League of Legends European Championship Summer Split.

Origen finished 10th in its most recent split and was the first European team eliminated from Worlds 2020 qualification, but regardless of his teams perceived ceiling, Alphari has received praise time and time again for his rock-solid consistency and resiliency in disadvantaged situations.

In 2016, caster and analyst Nick "LS" De Cesare, known for his blunt criticism of Western players, called Alphari 'one of the best top laners I've ever seen.' Legendary Korean jungler Choi "DanDy" In-kyu refused to believe Alphari was a Western player after playing against him a single time, continuously insisting that he had to be a young undiscovered talent in South Korea. 

Alphari has been sought after by many a team in the early off-season, including Rogue and Fnatic, but a deal is unable to be signed until the opening of the free agency window on November 16th at 7:00pm ET. Should Alphari join Team Liquid as the report suggests, he would be replacing top laner Jeong "Impact" Eon-young, who became the highest-paid player in the history of the LCS after joining TL before the start of 2018 to the tune of a reported $3.4 million.

Team Liquid has not declined on any potential deal with Alphari, but Wolf's report states that the proposed deal would be around $1 million per year at a slightly more expensive annual fee than Impact. According to the report, mid laner Nicolaj "Jensen" Jensen has a lot of influence in the TL offseason decisions, and that his desires included Alphari and a 'jungler he could trust.' 

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