Minnesota United made the addition of Julian Gressel official on Tuesday morning.
The 31-year-old right-sided player did not play for Inter Miami this season and his skills will help fill needs for the Loons. He is under contract through 2026, with a club option for 2027.
“If you were to sort of script the type of player that we need,” MNUFC coach Eric Ramsay said. He also called Gressel “a serial winner” and “a steady character.”
Gressel has played 245 matches in MLS, winning MLS Cup with Atlanta, Columbus and the Supporters Shield with Miami last seasonA year ago, he totaled nine assists and one goal in 2,340 MLS minutes. Gressel’s lack of playing time this year was a decision from new coach Javier Mascherano.
How Loons got him
This acquisition was not a intra-league trade nor the new for-cash transfer, but rather Miami waiving Gressel and the Loons claiming his rights.
MLS rules state: “If a player with a guaranteed contract is waived, any interested MLS club will have 48 hours from the notice of Waivers to claim the player by notifying the League of the intention to claim the player and the amount of the player’s Salary Budget Charge they wish to assume. The player will be awarded based on a number of factors, including but not limited to, Waiver Order and which club is willing to absorb a Salary Budget Charge that is meaningfully higher than other clubs and at least $15,000 higher than Senior Minimum Salary.”
Gressel made $1.09 million in guaranteed compensation with Miami in 2024, according to the MLS Players Association. This move will bring down his salary for MNUFC, but where it comes down between what he was earning and the senior minimum ($104,000) won’t be known until this year’s MLSPA numbers are released.
Best position?
Gressel has not played for Miami this season, but a year ago he was primarily a right wing or right midfielder as Inter won the Supporters Shield. In 2023, he finished that season at wingback as Columbus Crew won MLS Cup.
Ramsay was noncommittal on Gressel’s best spot in Minnesota, but narrowed it down to right wingback or a right-sided central midfielder, or No. 8, which would help with Hassani Dotson sidelined months with a knee injury
“I feel like the plus point for (Gressel) is that he can do both,” Ramsay said. “I think he’s a player that does take a lot of pride in his versatility, from the conversation I had with him.”
Ramsay said if the club isn’t going to fill all its senior-roster spots, then versatility within the squad is a bigger necessity. If Gressel can fill in at right wingback, Ramsay said a “knockdown effect” would be current right wingback Bongi Hlongwane might spend time at his more-natural position, forward.
“I wouldn’t say, difficulties that we have on that (right) side, but … it’s an obvious point in our squad where you’d say that we between right-sided (No. 8) and wingback, having lost Hassani, we could do with some options and competition and depth,” Ramsay said.
Ramsay also sees Gressel providing right-footed service on set pieces, something the team doesn’t currently have in the cupboard.
Known commodity
One of the Loons best teams — the 2019 edition — was constructed, in part, from within MLS with Ozzie Alonso coming from Seattle and Ike Opara from Kansas City. The Gressel move is from that same playbook from within the league.
It’s the opposite of how the Loons tried to add diminutive right back Matus Kmet from Slovakia last summer. He never fit and is out on loan in Poland this season.
“That’s really important for us, that we we want to bring players in that you can say with certainty are going to have a level of influence on the team’s success,” Ramsay said. “… The fact that he’s not played for five or six months with any real regularity, doesn’t seem like it’ll be an issue. I think he’s a guy who will have looked after himself really well and should be able to hit the ground running.”
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