North are in talks to obtain the services of Nikolaj "⁠niko⁠" Kristensen from Heroic, who in turn would welcome Daniel "⁠mertz⁠" Mertz, vpesports.com reports.

With the benching of mertz in early June, North have been on the lookout for a new fifth player, the Copenhagen based team even trying out an international roster at DreamHack Open Valencia, where they fielded Oscar "⁠mixwell⁠" Cañellas.

In spite of winning the Spanish event, North will seemingly opt to continue with an entirely Danish roster for now, with captain Mathias "⁠MSL⁠" Lauridsen commenting after DH Valencia that communicating in English was a tough challenge, and Valdemar "⁠valde⁠" Bjørn Vangså tweeting that playing with people who speak the same language is a 'top priority'.

In North, niko will get a chance to showcase his abilities at the Major

The move would leave North without a dedicated AWPer. Seeing as there are no obvious choices among snipers in the Danish scene, the alleged acquisition of niko could mean that MSL's troops could implement a style similar to the one used by Liquid, with the captain himself and Philip "⁠aizy⁠" Aistrup picking up the AWP intermittently.

According to vpesports.com, Heroic would receive AWP talent mertz from North in exchange for the 20-year old rifler. While certainly a promising, gifted sniper, mertz seems to lack tactical prowess, as MSL hinted at in an interview with HLTV.org during DreamHack Open Valencia.

At this point, it is unclear whether the trade deal is permanent or the players will be loaned out.

With the trade deal in place, the two Danish rosters would look as follows:

Contacted by HLTV.org, North refused to comment on the reports, stating only that the line-up for DreamHack Masters Stockholm and the FACEIT Major will be announced on August 8.