Smooya benched until Dec 2018 due to contract lock
Epsilon’s smooya explained on Social Media that he will be benched until December 2018. He hasn’t been able to find a new team due to a $100,000 buyout clause.
In September, Epsilon benched Owen "smooya" Butterfield, and two weeks later revamped the roster with a fully Swedish squad. Since then, Owen looked for a new team to continue his competitive career.
Two months passed, and he hasn’t been able to find anyone interested because of Epsilon buyout clause: the team asks $100,000 to free smooya from his contract.
The player released a communicate on the situation, focusing on three points:
1 - Household problems
“When you live in the UK and your family is on benefits (My mother can't work because she is disabled.) they give you a set budget to live in a house given to you.
When the government found out I was getting paid, they stopped giving us as much money since I was classed as fully employed. So on top of me losing 1300 dollars a month we also get less money given towards us from the fact they still think I am "employed' since its a 18 month contract.
I've gone from being able to afford the rent easily and even help with other bits within the house to barely being able to afford the rent.”
2 - The Buyout
Firstly, my contract is worth 36 thousand dollars. The problem with the buyout is that it is basically 3x the worth of my actual contract. On top of this the worth of my contract goes down because I'm benched so they save even more money (not paying me 2k a month only 700).
3 - Being benched
“Statistically I was a top performer of the team. I didn't under perform at any time, i wasn't disrespectful or acted unprofessionally while I was in the active lineup so there isn't any reason to why I should've been benched.
Thank you for the support and I hope you guys understand the situation that I am in, I know I am responsible for signing a contract but I was a 17 yo kid who was grinding to become pro for over 2 years, so once the chance arose of course I signed.”
The full post is on Twitter.
Header Image: HLTV
