Zeus reportedly declined T1’s offer last-minute in messy contract dispute

A report from Naver news claims that T1 tried their hardest to retain Zeus, offering several different contracts under different terms with the intention of keeping this roster around for the long term. However, the star top laner didn’t agree to their conditions.

Zeus, like every other player on T1’s roster, was a hot proposition in the off-season. It’s pretty normal for every member of this team to get offers worth millions when weighing their options.

However, Naver reporter Ko Yong-jun recounted the story as it was told to him from both Zeus’ agent and a representative with T1, and it provides a much deeper look at what actually happened.

As it turns out, Zeus leaving the team was a last-minute decision, and the negotiations were messy.

Why did Zeus leave T1?

Zeus reportedly left T1 because he wasn’t able to come to an agreement with the organization on how much he should be paid, as well as some disagreements on the duration of his contract.

Negotiations with the team were tumultuous, and Faker was the only player with a contract that extended into 2025. Keria extended first, followed by Oner and Gumayusi. Zeus was the last piece that needed to fall into place for this roster to be complete.

Originally, T1 wanted to offer Zeus a 3+1 contract, essentially a 4 year agreement with some extra steps. Considering the other three players were re-signed for 2 years, he wasn’t happy with the discrepancy and how much longer the duration of his contract was.

Zeus T1 with trophy

Zeus was one of the hottest players in the 2024 off-season. This trophy may have something to do with that.

Despite T1 offering a number of other contracts at both a reduced duration and rate, he ultimately declined to re-join the org and is now looking for other options with higher pay. This is similar to how the 2024 off-season went for him, though he decided to stay with T1 then.

However, there are also some differences between the accounts of Zeus’ agent and T1’s. Zeus’ agent had the following to say in their report:

“We told T1 that the deadline for accepting the offer was 3 p.m. and eventually waited for T1’s opinion until 3:40 p.m. The amount was somewhat similar, but there was a serious difference in opinion regarding the contract period.”

In other words, Zeus’ agent conveyed that it was their way or the highway when it came to negotiations, and that he was unwilling to budge on reducing the contract’s duration and increasing the amount the top laner was to be paid.

Here’s what a representative of T1 had to say to Naver:

“Even though we were unilaterally informed of the 3 p.m. deadline, we rushed to Incheon to continue negotiations and requested further negotiations by phone, but we received a rejection from the agent,” After this, Zeus was locked in with another team. This signing really came down to the wire.

It’s yet unconfirmed which team Zeus ultimately decided to go with. Considering how few spots are open within the LCK, it’s likely to be Hanwha Life Esports.

There’s a chance Zeus decided to join an LPL team as well, though that league is running into some financial turmoil, so there are few teams that’d be willing to foot the bill and bring him on.