Minnesota United signs French midfielder Owen Gene; Leagues Cup foes announced

Minnesota United’s youth movement continued on Tuesday with the signing of 21-year-old central midfielder Owen Gene, from Amiens SC in the French second division.

Gene is a tall, rangy defensive midfielder, and will occupy a U22 Initiative and international spot on the Loons roster. Despite his youth, he’s already played more than 100 games for the Amiens first team.

Manager Eric Ramsay described him as good defensively, athletic and “clean” on the ball — though perhaps not as a plug-and-play lineup solution.

“I don’t think we’re going to put huge pressure on him to contribute from day one,” Ramsay said. “I don’t think the expectation will be that he’ll come in and completely change the look of the team, but he’s definitely got some raw ingredients and hopefully a pretty high ceiling.”

As with recently signed Hoyeon Jung, the Loons expect Gene to go to an embassy in Canada to get his visa appointment this week, with an outside hope he might be available to play in Minnesota’s final preseason game next Sunday.

Gene is the second U22 signing of the offseason, after central defender Nicolás Romero. Along with Sang Bin Jeong, the Loons now have three players in their U22 spots. That’s important to roster compliance, as their transfer fees don’t count against the team’s salary cap, and the players’ salaries hit the cap at a reduced rate.

Unlike with last summer’s signings, Ramsay is hoping to integrate the new players slowly. “I don’t think we’re in any mad rush for contributors,” he said.

Minnesota’s front office isn’t currently expecting other new signings to come in before the beginning of the season, with the possibility open that the team has already made all of its winter signings. The Loons have until April 23 to sign new players, and another window from late July to late August.

There are now 25 players on the Minnesota roster, with a maximum of 30 players allowed.

The Loons also announced their schedule for the Leagues Cup, the joint MLS/Liga MX tournament.

Minnesota will play host to Querétaro on July 30 and Atlético de San Luis on Aug. 6, and will travel to Houston to face Club América — arguably the biggest club in North America — on Aug. 2.

The tournament was revamped this year, and now only includes the 18 playoff teams from last season’s MLS playoffs, along with the 18 teams from Liga MX. (The exception is Vancouver, which has been replaced with expansion side San Diego FC, since the Whitecaps are already playing in both the CONCACAF Champions Cup and the Canadian Championship.)

Rather than splitting the tournament into three-team groups, as in the past, each team will now simply play three games against teams from the other league. The top four MLS teams and the top four Liga MX teams, ranked in a single set of standings, will advance to the quarterfinals.

Minnesota is 3-0 against Liga MX teams in the tournament over the past two years, with wins over Necaxa, Puebla, and Toluca (on penalties).

The condensed schedule also means that MLS will pause its schedule for only two weeks, rather than the near-month-long breaks it took for the tournament in the past two seasons.

In addition to the Leagues Cup this season, the Loons will return to the U.S. Open Cup, the century-old domestic cup competition. Minnesota will enter the competition in the Round of 32, and will play its first match near the beginning of May.

The Loons missed the competition last season, amidst a dispute between MLS and tournament organizers U.S. Soccer about MLS participation. The Loons’ second team, MNUFC2, did take part and lost its opening game to third-division Michigan Stars FC.