Minnesota United on Thursday addressed another offseason need — a right back — when it reached terms to acquire defender Romain Metanire from his Stade Reims club in France, a Star Tribune source said.
Minnesota United acquires French defender Romain Metanire
January 18, 2019 at 2:59PM
Metanire, 28, a member of the Madagascar national team, joins a back line that includes Francisco Calvo, Michael Boxall and Brent Kallman. The French sports newspaper L'Equipe reported it is a two-year contract.
Paperwork to complete the deal still must be finished. Metanire joined Stade Reims in January 2017 and his contract was due to expire in June.
The move is the third major one in the last month — with one more expected — after the Loons acquired Slovakian national team member Jan Gregus, a midfielder, from Copenhagen FC and worked a deal to claim longtime MLS midfielder Ozzie Alonso off waivers from Seattle.
Their last notable position of need for the 2019 season is a starting goalkeeper. The team renewed last season's starter Bobby Shuttleworth's contract for this season and selected Maryland goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair in last week's MLS SuperDraft. The team also has its eyes on Argentinian goalkeeper Agustin Rossi of Boca Juniors.
JERRY ZGODA
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Minnesota started only two strikers against Seattle, leaving Sang Bin Jeong and Joseph Rosales to provide the width behind Teemu Pukki and Kelvin Yeboah.
