According to insiders, Imperial is planning to sign Jonathan JOTA Willian. He will replace Fernando fer Alvarenga.

Dust2.us reports that Imperial is signing JOTA from MIBR, who will replace fer in the main lineup. This is the second replacement in the Imperial roster since the team's creation.

Does Imperial Need a Replacement?

The results of Imperial in the second half of the year could have been more pleasing. Unfortunately, the Brazilians failed at tier-1 events and had problems at tier-2 tournaments. As a result, the Imperial needed help to gain a foothold at the top of their region.

For example, at the Flow FiReLEAGUE 2022 Global Finals, Imperial performed worse than paiN, losing to them in the semifinals. Gabriel FalleN Toledo's team could not compete with the region's best team - FURIA. For example, in the Challengers Stage of the IEM Rio Major 2022, Imperial ultimately failed with a 0-3 score, while FURIA made it to the tournament playoffs.

After IEM Rio Major 2022, FalleN's team did not participate in any tournaments because they could not qualify for them. So Imperial is indeed in a catastrophic state, and changes are needed.

JOTA vs. fer

At the moment, fer is not the worst player on the team. His rating is 6.2, while Vinicius VINI Figuiredo and Ricardo Boltz Prass show ratings of 5.9 and 5.8, respectively.

Despite this, most players change positions, and most likely, JOTA fits well in the fer's role. And according to statistics, JOTA is much better than fer.

Will this replacement help Imperial? Unfortunately, we will only be able to understand this in the next season.

When Will We See Imperial?

Imperial did not qualify for the upcoming tier-1 tournaments. Still, they will be preceded by the ESL Pro League Season 17 Conference, which begins on January 16. With the help of this event, the Brazilian team can enter the ESL Pro League Season 17.