Counter-Strike 2 insider and Team Spirit esports organisation member Alexey "OverDrive" Biryukov believes that Alexander "s1mple" Kostylev will not return to Natus Vincere. He stated this in a video on his YouTube channel.
"There's some info from Thorin flying around that s1mple will join NAVI by the next Major. I think that's complete nonsense. He won't be playing for NAVI. Well, unless there are some serious mental issues there, like people making decisions at the level of Evil Geniuses and Team Liquid, then maybe they'd bring him back.
However, I'm confident that NAVI always makes very precise and correct decisions, both in management and with B1ad3. They won't allow s1mple to come back after almost a year off and no proper games, and slot him into a proper roster. That's impossible. There will be no s1mple in NAVI.
The only way s1mple ends up in NAVI is if he goes to play for Team Liquid, EG, and Furia across the ocean shows an unreal cosmic level."
Previously, journalist Duncan "Thorin" Shields speculated that Kostylev would join NAVI for the Shanghai Major 2024. More details can be found at the link.
At the time of publication, s1mple is inactive and not represent any team on the professional scene. In October 2023, he was replaced in NAVI's roster by Igor "w0nderful" Zhdanov.