As Minnesota United prepares to build its roster for the upcoming MLS season, club Sporting Director Manny Lagos has announced he will be going on a scouting trip to Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. The purpose of the trip is to identify talent and build connections within the region. Lagos spoke with members of the media earlier this week, and outlined his plan for the trip and what he hopes to accomplish as the club prepares for next season.
“I look at a trip like this, and there will be more in this offseason, and it will be incredibly important at a lot of levels for this club to build a base of players and for roster planning and building,” said Lagos. “I think we put together a good trip that will give us a good group of players we're interested in in that part of the world to start to get that base to think about the roster.”
MNUFC has had opportunities to build its global soccer networks in the past with trips to England, Brazil, and Mexico for training purposes. This trip will have the specific purpose of scouting and talent evaluation ahead of the 2017 MLS season. The Scandinavian region was picked specifically by Lagos for several reasons.
“It’s cold in October and November there,” he joked.
What attracted him the most to the region were the similarities between the leagues in those countries and MLS.
“It's appealing where we are now, looking at those leagues and those types of players, and there are some serious similarities in terms of the level [of play] and sometimes the types of players, but it's not completely the same. It's certainly a market that we're intrigued by, and it's certainly a market we want to get to know better, and this trip will allow us to do that. Not just by watching players, but networking and growing relationships and partnerships. Trips we've done in the past have added value on how we build and create those types of networks that I think will be long-term benefits for the club.”
The trip will allow Lagos to look at clubs from various levels in each country, ranging from smaller teams focused on talent development, to top clubs playing among the European elite. The consistency in the play in the region is a very attractive feature for Minnesota and other clubs as well.
“This is a market that is appealing to a lot of MLS clubs because it's not as extreme as the English Premier League in terms of the salary discrepancies and talent level. In Scandinavia, you have situation where its like for like. It's got some big value for us to get to know the market. And specifically from it, to get see some players that we've already identified that we want to get a closer look at. We're not at all at a point where we're talking about signing though.”
Opening up channels at multiple levels allows the club to identify players for roles from a squad player building for the future, up to Designated Players. However, Lagos isn’t looking for a specific type of player this trip.
“The goal is really grow and make sure we're assessing the market values in different parts of the world correctly as we build parts of our roster. This is a market that you should see and hopefully find the value that fits within and MLS budget and will build up our roster. They are very similar to our market in a way that they have players that are maybe lower tier and trying to get to higher levels. They have solid veterans that, if you have to find value, it makes sense for your roster. And they have some higher level players that are on a pathway to very high level potential soccer.”
The region already has several U.S. connections, which will be highly beneficial to Minnesota. Several clubs have had American coaches, including former U.S. men’s national team coach Bob Bradley at Stabæk (SWE) in 2014, and current Columbus Crew SC coach Gregg Berhalter with Hammarby FF (SWE) in 2012. There are a large amount of American players in the region currently, and it has produced several national team players including Mix Diskerud and Josh Gatt.
“When you look at someone like Mix, it's important that you're cognizant of the kind of player he is and it’s probably worked out better [developing] there for them than here. It's a point to make, but the reality of it is there could be a lot of factors that, but also to remind ourselves that there's a level [in the U.S] that's very good too.”
The Loons have direct connections to Scandinavia as well. Current Minnesota players Daniel Mendes, Danny Cruz, Stefano Pinho, Kristian Nicht, Jeb Brovsky, and Steward Ceus all have experience in the region. Lagos also stated that the similarities that the Land of 10,000 Lakes has to the region could be beneficial for signing players.
“Anytime a Minnesotan is going to Scandinavia, I think it's kind of cool. It's got cultural leverage for sure. I think there's a mentality that both cultures have embraced over centuries, in terms of the weather we deal with and how we embrace our identity as part of our lifestyle. I think that on the surface it’s there, but I think really we're more focused on the product on the field. This is a market that checks a lot of boxes on how we want to build the roster for next year.”
With a strong base of Scandinavian heritage in Minnesota, some believe that bringing in a player from the region could be beneficial from a marketing standpoint for the club. However, Lagos says the on field product comes first.
“Ultimately getting the product on the field will allow us to be successful as possible. That could be like us saying, ‘we're going to sign every player from here in the U.S.’ and if that made sense for us to put a product on the field we'd be proud of in MLS, we'd do that. Value for us is first and foremost on the field.”
The product on the field will be coming together very quickly with less that six months till the club’s first MLS game. The scouting network and connections made on this trip will be a big part of the future scouting and global outreach done by Minnesota in the short and long term plans Lagos and his staff have set up.
“We've got a massive job to create a five month scouting initiative, as well as a year, and three to five years from now. We're excited we can be as creative as we can during this time. Solving the problems on what we think is going to make sense in the upcoming four or five months is going to be similar to what I think it could look like in the future, because we're really thinking about our market and what we can do. We’re also thinking about what we as Minnesota United can do to build on the values and principles of be competitive in MLS.”
That plan has become more solidified with the announcement of the schedule for the MLS Expansion Draft that Minnesota and Atlanta will participate in. Other domestic roster mechanisms like the SuperDraft, Supplemental Draft, and Allocation Order priority will factor in to Minnesota’s global vision, while working within MLS regulations.
“There’s been a lot of behind the scenes work now that we have a timeline for these mechanisms. We're expanding how we process and assess guys to make sure that it’s the right fit at the right time for this roster and how we go forward. In terms of international we have a plan that I think is appropriate for the next four months, and it certainly is going to grow and expand. It's been and enjoyable and stressful time over the past few months because taking that direction is not going to be a straight path. It's going to be a lot of dialogue of what makes sense [for the club]. How we transition into what our club should be within the rules of MLS, which are very complicated. “On the sporting side, we get down on how to scout and how that mechanism wants to be implemented, but it also has to be within the relative resources we have and within the rules of MLS. That's not easy, it's very complicated. You can't just scout a player and say, ‘Come to us.’ There are a lot of nuances that we need to make sure the player can actually get to us via the work and energy going into the scouting.”
This work will begin to build the long-term vision and culture of the club, and open up new ways of finding players.
“There will always be an environment of brining players in and using those players to recruit others in a lot of ways. One is for that group to come together and do well on the field. There are other ways, like making sure they have a great experience here and they're spreading the word on how this is a great place. And from that, dialogue with the type of players that they know who would fit here.”
Finding that fit requires knowing the market and how to properly sell Minnesota to players from around the world.
“We don't want to pretend and to start this off thinking we're going to be a New York or LA. It's not our market. We're not those cities. Particularly on a global scale, New York and LA are an easier sell. But we are a state that can talk about how we’re so family friendly and talk about our music scene, our theater scene, our lakes, and quality of life. If you're going to convince someone to play for you within the budget constraints of our league, we're going to have to be very good at showing why our market is so special. I think with some honesty and integrity that resonates that helps us recruit the type of people and players we want. I'm excited about it though.”
Lagos already has an idea of the type of people he wants involved with the club.
“I think the excitement of this project is almost surreal to me, because you're asking me to look across at someone and ask them to believe in the club as much as we believe in the player. I think the sell of this growth we're going into, the project we're about to start, lines up with the type of personalities and people we want to be involved in it. The people are going to be good at not necessarily relying on what they've done in the past, but making sure they want to show what they can do in the future. I think when we sell that we're going to gravitate to people who want to listen to our message and want to be a part of it.”
Minnesota will start to build its roster domestically with the 2016 Expansion Draft on December 13th. The order of picks for this draft and others as well as priority for the Loons and fellow expansion club Atlanta will be determined on October 16th.
Be there when the Loons take the field in 2017 by placing your season ticket deposit. The first 11,842 fans, one for every lake in Minnesota, who place deposits will receive seat selection priority at TCF Bank Stadium and be immortalized at United’s new stadium at Midway. Act now to secure your place in history for the inaugural MLS season for Minnesota.
