Gentle Mates Reportedly Agreed Deals With Coach Kaplan and Fnatic Star Alfajer for Valorant Two Thousand and Twenty Seven
Sheep Esports reported that the French organisation has only controller Proxh under contract for next year, as former Sentinels coach kaplan agreed verbally to lead the rebuild.
Gentle Mates are set to rebuild their VALORANT roster around two major signings for 2027, according to reports published by Sheep Esports on 22 September 2026. Head coach Adam "kaplan" Kaplan and Turkish duelist Emir "Alfajer" Beder are both expected to join the French organisation for VCT EMEA.
kaplan, who won Masters Madrid 2024 with Sentinels, has reached a verbal agreement to become head coach. After leaving Sentinels in early 2026, he joined M80 in Challengers North America, where the team won the Stage 2 and Stage 3 titles before losing to ENVY and G2 Esports in the VCT Americas Play-In.
Alfajer joined Fnatic midway through 2022 and his contract expires in November 2026. Sheep Esports reported that he explored options with several organisations before committing to Gentle Mates, following a difficult year for Fnatic that included Chronicle's departure, coaching changes and relegation to face Tier 2 opposition after Stage 2.
Gentle Mates started 2026 strongly, earning the second European seed at Kickoff and reaching Masters Santiago, and finished fifth to sixth at the Esports World Cup in Paris. However, the team slumped to 13th to 16th in VCT EMEA Stage 2.
Only controller Yusuf Emre "Proxh" Tunc is confirmed under contract for 2027, while in-game leader Patryk "starxo" Kopczyński and others have reportedly opened themselves to offers.
Neither move has been officially announced. Further roster decisions are expected across the offseason, with Champions Shanghai getting under way on 24 September.