How can Minnesota United compete with the best in West? Continuity, for starters.

MINNESOTA UNITED | ANALYSIS

Minnesota United FC returned to the playoffs in 2024, but the gap between the Loons and the top of the Western Conference was evident.

If you count their penalty-shootout playoff wins against Real Salt Lake as regulation draws, the Loons won only one game of 14 against the five teams that finished above them in the standings this year.

Chief soccer officer Khaled El-Ahmad has to figure out how to catch the class of the West — LA Galaxy, LAFC and the Seattle Sounders. But El-Ahmad says he knows what the team needs to close that gap: more of the same.

“I would first say consistency and an identity, and then we just continue to improve, off the pitch and on the pitch,” El-Ahmad said.

El-Ahmad pointed out that the Galaxy and LAFC have had the same coaches for four and three years, respectively, and Brian Schmetzer has been coaching the Sounders in various roles since 2001. The Loons, meanwhile, are experiencing stability for the first time under the new regime, and now have a chance to have a proper offseason and preseason to work with the team — which could look quite similar to the 2024 squad.

Minnesota submitted a 12-player protected list for Wednesday’s expansion draft for San Diego FC, and there were no surprises. The 12 players included every player that started a playoff game — bar midfielder Wil Trapp, who is out of contract — plus Tani Oluwaseyi and Sang Bin Jeong, the first two subs off the bench in all three playoff games.

Trapp’s status might well be temporary, too. He’s a free agent, but the Loons are already negotiating his return, meaning they might re-sign him after the expansion draft — whether or not San Diego picks him.

The one exception to the consistency is center back Miguel Tapias, who the Loons are selling to a team outside MLS. While the deal hasn’t been announced yet, it’s far enough along that Tapias wasn’t listed among the Loons players that are available for selection.

The 27-year-old has started nearly every game for Minnesota since his arrival in 2023. But the emergence of Jefferson Díaz and Carlos Harvey as the outside center backs in the back five meant there was no room for Tapias in the starting lineup over the last few games of 2024, including the playoffs.

Díaz, along with Kelvin Yeboah and Joaquín Pereyra, came to Minnesota in the summer transfer window and immediately made an impact. The Loons also picked up Matúš Kmeť, who they still believe has a chance to be a solid right wingback in MLS, and left back Anthony Markanich, whom they say shows promise.

In other words, El-Ahmad’s first real transfer window was a difference-maker. In his mind, though, this doesn’t necessarily put Minnesota only one more window away from being the finished product.

“It could be one, it could be three,” he said. “Every window we’re going to try to improve the talent. But that could also be the development [of players]. Do their coaches do the right individual training, which they do – can we tweak that? What about our second team? It doesn’t always have to come from the external market, it could be internal.”

In terms of adding players, El-Ahmad confirmed the club is looking to move towards having two Designated Players and four Under-22 players, which would also give them an extra $2 million in salary-cap room. The Loons currently have three DPs — Yeboah, Pereyra, and Teemu Pukki — but Pukki’s contract is up in June, and Pereyra could be moved to a non-DP spot.

“I think it gives us more flexibility, versus maybe bringing in TAM players [higher-paid players that aren’t Designated Players], because that space we don’t have,” El-Ahmad said. “So Under-22 players are a little bit of the focus for this window and the next one.”

That flexibility will be the key for Minnesota, as they look to build for 2025. They want to add more — but they’re also hoping that, in large part, they already have what they need to compete with the top teams in MLS.