Minnesota United played Necaxa on July 30 at Allianz Field. The Loons will be joined shortly by Slovakian fullback Matúš Kmet, helping fill a position at which the team has struggled with injuries this season. (Jerry Holt/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Minnesota United backers are getting a sense of what chief soccer officer Khaled El-Ahmad is looking for, in terms of this summer’s transfer window. He’s now brought in players at three different positions, from three countries on two different continents, but they all have one thing in common: a birthday in the year 2000.

Monday, the Loons officially added the third of the trio, signing Slovakian fullback Matúš Kmet from AS Trencin, which finished eighth of 12 teams in Slovakia’s first division last season. Kmet, center back Jefferson Diaz and forward Kelvin Yeboah all have celebrated or will celebrate 24th birthdays this year, putting them right at the beginning of what El-Ahmad considers the prime age for a player.

Kmet was one of the last players cut from Slovakia’s squad for the European Championships this summer, and has played for Slovakia’s youth national teams at a number of different ages.

As a right back, he’ll help fill a position at which Minnesota has struggled with injuries this season. DJ Taylor has had two hamstring injuries this season, and Caden Clark — who was mostly a forward before this year — has been hurt twice as well. The Loons have had to fill in with Sang Bin Jeong, who’s definitely still a forward, and call up MNUFC2′s Loïc Mesanvi, who’s also a winger. Combined, those two forwards have started at right wingback in four of the team’s past five games.

Kmet is signed through the end of the 2026 season, and the team has an option for 2027. He’ll also occupy an international spot on the MNUFC roster, meaning that if El-Ahmad wants to add any more international players, he’ll have to make some additional moves — either clearing an international player off his own roster, or paying another team to acquire an additional spot.

A midseason preseason

Thanks to Necaxa’s 3-1 victory late Sunday night in Seattle, Minnesota failed to qualify for the Leagues Cup knockout round. All three teams in the group ended the group stage with three points, leaving the tiebreaker to goal difference; Necaxa (+1) won the group, and Seattle (0) finished just ahead of Minnesota United (-1).

This is only the second year of the expanded Leagues Cup format that includes three-team groups, but the Loons have the dubious honor of being the first team to win a group-stage game in regulation and still miss out on the knockout round.

It means that the Loons don’t play another competitive game until Aug. 24, but it also means manager Eric Ramsay will get something he’s yet to have as the coach: extended practice time, almost like a preseason camp. When Ramsay took over four games into the year, the one thing every player mentioned was that it was like trying to do preseason preparation in the middle of the year. Now, with three new players in the fold, Ramsay will have nearly three weeks.