UK esports organisation Lucent Esports have been left frustrated after their Korean jungler Jony left them for Mad Lions Madrid on a free transfer, just two weeks after joining Lucent.
Typically, when a larger esports organisation looks to the lower tiers to sign players, the smaller organisation will receive a transfer fee via a buyout clause in the player’s contract.
However, for Lucent, while they have a buyout clause in their player contracts, Jony had not yet signed the contract, meaning he was able to join Mad Lions’ academy team on a free transfer.
Lucent Esports play in Division 2 of the NLC, the European Regional League for the UK, Ireland and Nordics, while Mad Lions Madrid play in the Spanish Superliga, and their first team play in the higher-tier LEC.
It’s worth noting that Divisions 2 and below do not feature a prize pool. NLC Division 1 has €200,000 in prizing and financial subsidies for teams, and so orgs in this division are more likely to have contracts signed and secured much earlier on. Lucent do pay their players, though we understand Jony wasn’t paid as he didn’t complete a month with the organisation.
Jony has joined Mad Lions Madrid as a sub jungler.
William Gleadall, CEO and co-founder of Lucent, told Esports News UK: “Jony had a buyout in his contract but had difficulty signing it. So it’s partly my issue, and partly down to the fact I think he had offers in the background.
“I usually give players four days to sign a contract with Lucent, and this time I gave seven, and it came back to bite me.”
“What would I say to other [smaller, grassroots] orgs who have players that haven’t signed a contact yet? Learning from this mistake, without a doubt, put pressure on your players and even staff to sign with them.”
William Gleadall, Lucent Esports
“This is a common issue apparently that I know is going on. At least another org in the NLC are also fighting a similar problem right now. If you are providing for the player, then they need to be signed. It’s not just about covering players backs anymore, a lot of organisations lose out on a lot to provide for players.”
This isn’t about Lucent crying or feeling like they were hard done by, it’s more about raising awareness of an issue and educating other orgs for the future.
Nick Williams, MD at DotXTalent (which recently announced a player transfer service) and barrister at Morgan Sports Law, posted this thread after the publication of this article offering his views and advice:
Several UK esports organisations have sold players to larger organisations over the years. For example, mezii left Endpoint for Fnatic last year, Team Heretics signed Valorant player Monsteerr from LDN UTD, and Excel completed the biggest FIFA esports transfer signing in history when Tom Leese joined from Hashtag United.
Mad Lions also looked to a UK organisation a few months ago, when Mad Lions announced the signing of the Tenstar Valorant roster.
Lucent Esports partnered with Kirklees College last year to help students learn about esports, and earlier this year, planted trees in real life based on their in-game LoL performances with Verdant.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
