Minnesota United has not signed a single new player in the summer transfer window and has less than one week to get deals over the line.
Efforts are being made by the Loons front office to bring in additions, but with the window closing next Thursday, circumstances appear to be shifting from when MNUFC will sign new players to if they will manage to do so at all.
The club’s lack of action so far and the pending deadline has caused consternation for supporters, players and staff.
On Friday, Loons head coach Eric Ramsay expressed “frustration” over the inactivity that leaves him with a smaller squad going into Saturday’s important Western Conference game against Seattle Sounders at Allianz Field.
“If someone had said to me three months ago we would be in a position on the 15th of August where we wouldn’t have a single player in the building and four would have left, I would have found that hard to believe,” Ramsay told the Pioneer Press. “But ultimately that is the position we are in, unfortunately.”
Last summer, MNUFC added six new players, including key attacking pieces Kelvin Yeboah and Joaquin Pereyra. This summer, they set out to add two to three players, but have yet to get any contracts over the line.
This left the Loons with only 16 first-team, out-field players to train at the National Sports Center in Blaine on Friday, setting up another match without a full bench this weekend.
The second-year head coach said his players and staff are trying to focus on what they can control.
“I think we maybe got the luxury, I suppose, as a group of players and staff of being able to keep our focus on what’s immediately to come in the games and the training, but I’m sure I share everyone’s frustration that is connected to the club that we are in the position that we are in,” Ramsay said. “But I know full well, still, we have enough here to make (Saturday’s) game, of course, more than competitive and we had enough last week to win the game (a 2-1 loss to Colorado). The group is certainly not hiding behind” no reinforcements.
Minnesota traded winger Sang Bin Jeong to St. Louis and sent three players away on loans — midfielder Sam Shashoua, defender Devin Padelford and goalkeeper Wessel Speel. Sending players away was viewed as preparation for United to bring in new players to help them finish the MLS regular season and advance in the U.S. Open Cup.
The Loons are primarily in need of attacking help and the club’s target list includes attacking midfielder, winger and a defensive midfielder. MNUFC was linked this week to 22-year-old central/defensive midfielder Nectarios Triantis, a Sunderland player who was on loan Hibernian in Scotland’s Premiership, and 19-year-old attacking mid Liran Hazan of Maccabi Petach Tikva in Isreal.
It’s unclear how advanced those pursuit might be at the end of this week.
The transfer window opened July 24 and Saturday’s game will be the sixth overall match when new players could have been eligible to contribute to the Loons’ highly competitive season.
Given the routine lag in time for transfer deals to become finalized and for work visas to be ironed out for foreign players, how much any new player can contribute this season is shrinking. The Loons, who are third in the West, have eight MLS regular-season games remaining and will host a Open Cup semifinal vs. Austin FC in September.
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