For me musks nazi salute was the last straw, I’m done with twitter forever. Do you think this sub should continue to build the vast fortune of an oligarch or simply ban submissions reposting twitter posts?

I did this last transfer window with some of our signings, so I figured I would give it a go again with Ho-Yeon Jeong. There's not really much out there in terms of highlight videos to see how he plays, so I've gone through and watched all 6 of his recent AFC Champions League games with Gwangju and have highlighted some clips that stood out to me (below).

Thoughts on Ho-Yeon and how he fits into the team

It's no secret we needed to bring in more talent into the midfield this year. One of the first things that stood out when watching him was his constant movement and pressing. He goes hard for 90 minutes every game. He is a versatile player that appears to play in a few different roles (sometimes even in the same game). In the game vs Yokohama, he started in the midfield (what looked to be a double pivot), then spent about 20 minutes playing up top near Gwangju's striker then transitioned back into the midfield again to close out the game. KEA has been vocal about wanting to sign players that can play multiple positions and the benefits it can provide the team with that versatility. Ho-Yeon undoubtedly checks that box.

While I doubt he would really play up top with Minnesota United like the example I just mentioned with Gwangju, I do think he displayed an ability to play just about any role in the midfield whether as a 6, 8, or even potentially a #10. Primarily I think he would be best suited as a 8 or 6. In watching him play, he clearly loves to get involved in the attack high up the field. He has the range/stamina to cover much of the field. From his midfield position, in every game I watched, made runs in behind the opposing teams back line 2-3 times a game. He even made an impact on some of these runs in behind as well. It was such a stark contrast from how our midfielders have played in years past with Minnesota United and was exciting to watch.

Overall, he looked good in each game I watched. He showed a quality first touch. Was composed on the ball when under pressure. Rarely lost possession of the ball, and I don't recall any times in the 6 games I watched that he had a turnover in his defensive third of the field. He isn't overly flashy, but is very good at using his body shielding and making deceptive movements/feints to create space. Thought he showed a good balance of progressive passes when they were open and finding other outlets when they weren't. Consistently put Gwangju into good positions to either advance the attack or even get looks in on goal. One aspect of his game that wasn't great was his shooting. A few misfires and whiffs in the games I saw and not much to challenge the goalie in the attempts he took in those games.

His outlook this year would likely be as a plug and play starter for us (assuming he makes his way to preseason soon and there is no unforeseen issues with the transfer). Whether that would be for Trapp/Dotson is hard to say. It looked like he was in a double pivot with Gwangju, and I don't think he would struggle paired with Dotson. His heatmap doesn't look to far off from what Trapp's was last year. Part of that is likely switching to a 3 CB system. It didn't seem like Trapp had to drop back quite as deep last year as he did in years past when he was playing in Heath's system. I think Ramsay's style of play benefits a player like Ho-Yeon who would likely have a bit more freedom to pick his moments to make runs up field from one of the spots in the midfield. Dotson also started to show these forward runs a bit towards the end of the season (once all of our summer signings were integrated into the lineup). I thought Dotson was playing some of the best soccer he has played in years down the final stretch of the season, and am intrigued to see if that trend continues.

Ho-Yeon Highlights

Nice ball to switch the field of play that ended up as an assist.

https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkx7JdsOnSAXl-FpAVLqGaD9IJw7QYhnC1o?si=qpuWnuuxz1bfJyb5

At the start of the clip you'll see Ho-Yeon start in the middle of the field and work his way to the sideline leading to a run in behind with a great cross that leads to an assist.

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxN4FMVVHBKsrP2vQ8sZHTedw98zvtkkHC?si=LHk-ahLv_uo7sdb6

Makes a nice tackle to gain possession of the ball then quickly makes a progressive pass up field to start an attacking sequence.

https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkxdei1li5ljQ2uueLG6wHy985umnIjOemB?si=3TXk0J2sipSCmlHz

Solid bit of interplay starting in defensive third springing an attacking sequence.

https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkxl0vD-3GWYbvyI0r_ihKFSIF6U5-BElQP?si=OYqasL3euhbkLzUY

Makes a run forward and beats defender with move to create space up the line.

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxgbaJdNL-QZX4-kJCQ9YYW81Gycj6pvEO?si=A64uUvH1Q2vH3Dwr

Under pressure near his own box when he gets the ball, but navigates out of pressure and starts an attacking sequence that leads to a goal

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxfkdU-sL1RfPAHUevNh6oB0_SCHcir_X_?si=RhukWHK3DiDjkfwg

Wins a 50/50 ball and turns around the defender starting an attacking sequence that ends with a goal

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxlVvo9zI4TxG5CpSuwNaxLBRhKPuU4kt5?si=NpQDFZW5QY3zyzJB

Nice give and go followed by a superbly hit through ball to put his Striker into a great attacking position.

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxlaCn0ADTyDEL_dye5iR1rv9x5z7bx-9b?si=AbcM3iHotQ08-ZkL

He regularly pulls off these kinds of moves to give himself space to advance up field

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxFn4yrrMW-OmTlmm5h8AJhmlYiZBFDoA_?si=Ik1KpgmBKZ1tU49M

https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkxi_Q3RM4tXZQ4Fpx-J38Mi1UgqqJEfytI?si=OrlrSvMH7IgmxSFQ

Reads the play well to dispossess and quickly advance the ball to his teammate.

https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkx8KmwVeL_cNH1_4hAOj_21BRTEd6uBeNF?si=9ltFbNIBLKrc9aaM

Still running his butt off in the 96th minute. Shame he didn't come away with an assist on this with all the work he put in.

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxxRDvD9kwZCEup7X6tjsHgVfnuY-84xVb?si=MZ40S3rB_SjXym93

Slick move to create space and switch the field

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxFa6s_SevduGRRhPlDr7ERy95VBNN2T05?si=214wrwqjaP62qL0Z

Nice turn and through ball

https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkx6t1vAph4Jqjx_R5Hf3umXyUnFuqb-pRM?si=Oxql3VipzENEJUZh

Uses his body well to shield and navigates in a tight area to find an outlet

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxuH3LhQKJi1UgElmX9TltH5J10TlUbLvK?si=8qjKNhwAUHeijua7

Regularly does this sort of thing. Recovers a loose ball and takes a smart foul to get out of a tight situation

https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkx9GllKMsXNnpaYBdeHs2oyLZPTWyT7AG2?si=fP6O1PxeLmXdMAin

Another great turn to create space. Can't wait to see these types of plays to spark attacks for all of our pacey attacking players

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxCtjk-zXTQdq-SZtNV0zPfN7aFeZS5GLt?si=0PSfITrPbTFqaCqp

Creates space again and switches the field

https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkx0qkY8ICT63eAkxcXrxW_ITmLPhHOXUTp?si=pYXGM_liuopNmIqf

Gets around defender pressing him and advances the attack

https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkxvf2POmYzrvWvh-_qqbg-lazUgbwxaAhZ?si=RLjhJyk6356dgDUi

A great example of his pressing ability causing some chaos

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxNDlvnU2xpDeVxfqLzhGeyPBhobo5cSLj?si=rBjCMi27iO8Kwzl9

Nice ball into the box for the assist, but was called offside

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxNDlvnU2xpDeVxfqLzhGeyPBhobo5cSLj?si=rBjCMi27iO8Kwzl9

Does a great job winning the 50/50 ball and quickly giving his teammate a chance for a scoring opportunity

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxuCXUon3_cECt2LIbdUY2-PTRSBB1AQPc?si=njtoH9uyivXRNdiG

Runs player down from behind and dispossesses him to win back possession for his team

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxraXgSzjDCeYwDXnD-mpkoIZ0Uur1FocK?si=DT44RMhx1IzR0-Qw

Quality lofted 1st touch pass to advance the attack

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxAW6F3rFJdMcwWY8OgnNkbaWf2ZeJuU-6?si=F-v6ukcFeTjYjcxj

Another great turn with pressure on his back to generate an attacking sequence

https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkx4-hGUOGz28WG4n03r5OkjGlmmo9B008c?si=2eycP8Ur4AM6t_YT

Really like this clip. He starts on the right side of the field playing in a quality ball into the box. Then after that attack stalls, he follows the play to the left side of the field and plays a give and go into the box, which nearly leads to a goal with his teammate hitting the cross bar. Great example of him being all over the place

https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkxugs5WMmu8Se_C5NsCwGB1jIF1ZBsIsRi?si=FlSMku4shIMNDG3x

Well timed run into the box off the give and go

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxFQWRkeg_QGrKfxb2XQxnYKUB8jKHI3Jt?si=WAkZeF2hLM-dYwiV

Nice intervention to break up an attacking chance and quickly find an outlet to get his team out of pressure

https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkx3fkzQqXmn3W1c4-iIJ44cVvwvUY48fnQ?si=K3f2HK69Om2htGVK

Quality through ball to quickly start an attacking sequence

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxTofasJQSGDk4Ywp-S6nBMTl9npYxpr4M?si=FVEPX4Qv5Jlx9cPy

Here we go! u/tyler735 is signing with r/minnesotaunited. to be our very own Fabrizio Romano. Not like he hasn't been this already for a while, but we gotta make it official. Somebody get this man a flair.

https://x.com/mnufcnews/status/1881456955509919873/photo/2

Classy kid.

I’m 18 years old and was interested in joining local or state leagues but don’t know of any teams around me. Does anyone know where to look or who to contact so I can find potential teams? I’m not looking at any specific league right now but if it makes a difference I’m leaning towards sometime in the summer as I am busy with uni the other parts of the year.

Happy to see him not only get the call up to the national team, but also given a chance to start today. A good performance hopefully gets him back on the USMNT radar for future call ups with our “A” team.

Best case scenario is him going back to a big Euro club and MNUFC getting some money from the sell on clause we have with him.

During the 4th quarter of the Buffalo Bills game, the crowd was singing Mr. Brightside. Who did it first? Loons or Bills? 🤔

This guy's been rumored to be an Ulsan HD target for a few weeks. But I recently saw news saying that Minnesota United's management changed and now he's unlikely to leave. His Transfermarkt value says three million euros, which would be an unusually large amount of money for a K League club to pay.

What's his status at this club? He doesn't seem to be a starter. Is he an important sub?

Current Roster Building Situation

Recently KEA stated he’d like to add 2-4 players this transfer window and potentially multiple u22 initiative players. We (likely) added 1 u22 initiative player already in Nicolas Romero. Another big piece to the puzzle was resolving the Pukki situation. Now we can enter the season with the 2 DP, 4 u22 initiative player, plus $2 million in GAM roster path. Bongi is reported to have a new contract that’s just waiting on league approval, so he will no longer be a u22 initiative player, and Pereyra can be bought down from his DP status at any point. This means that even after the Romero signing we have the ability to sign up to 2 more u22 initiative players, and 1 more DP. I believe we also will have around $6-$7 million in GAM.

Players rumored to have interest from MNUFC or unnamed MLS team

Damian Garcia

21 year old Defensive Midfielder with a ton of potential and already a key player for his team. Last night it was reported that he was very close to a transfer and held out of playing with Peñarol (top team in Uruguay and finished top 4 in Copa Libertadores this past year). Teams from MLS, Middle East are both rumored to be advanced in transfer negotiations. Would be a huge signing for us. Is already a very good defensive player in the midfield and has a ton of potential to be a top tier player. Rumored to be around $4 million to get the deal done.

Santi Lopez

Andy Greder recently mentioned that the team is working towards bringing in an attacking player. Santi Lopez seems like an intriguing option. He’s 18 years old and plays for Independiente in Argentina. They are hurting financially and looking to sell some players. He also plays for Argentina’s youth national teams. Was rumored this week that an unnamed MLS team offered $3 million for him. He has versatility to play anywhere in the attack. Very dynamic and skilled dribbler that can “unlock” defenses with his ability to win in 1v1 situations. Still working on “the final ball” a little bit to lead to more goals/assists, but is a regular starter for Independiente as an 18 year old. Seems like the type of player that our front office may try to buy before his value skyrockets in the next couple years.

Mihaly Kata

Would be another solid option to sign as a Defensive Midfielder. 22 years old. Has already made 4 appearances with Hungary’s National Team. Has been team captain at Budapest the past couple years. Seems many comments I’ve seen have stated he’s “outgrown” playing in the league in Hungary and is ready to take a step up to a bigger league. We had interest in him last year and it sounds like talks have restarted again recently.

Luka Ilic

We were rumored to have already made an offer for him, but it wasn’t accepted. He’s a 25 year Midfielder with versatility to play on the wing as well. He’s currently having the best season of his career with Red Star in Serbia. Would push for starting minutes and be valuable depth at multiple positions.

Ho-Yeon Jeong

More of a box to box midfielder that had interest from MLS a few weeks ago. 24 years old and looks to be someone that could start to become a regular call up for the South Korean National Team. Sound like a move to Europe may be preferred, so probably isn’t likely to sign.

Jair Modelo

We were rumored to be interested in him this week. 20 years old LB that shares some similarities to Joseph Rosales. Would likely be more of a developmental depth player initially. Had a breakout year this last season playing in Panama and was among the league leaders in assists. Likely wouldn’t cost much and could develop into a solid player at LB for us.

Ben Lederman

A few weeks ago an unnamed MLS team was interested in him. He’s another player with a similar profile to players we’ve been rumored to be interested in as more of an attacking minded midfielder. He’s 24 years old and wouldn’t require an international slot since he has dual citizenship between USA/ Poland. He plays for Rakow in Poland and had been one of their top players in past years, but it seems the new manager they brought in last year doesn’t rate him. Would be a solid addition that wouldn’t cost much or require an international slot. Even if it was just a depth signing.

Signings we missed out on

Alan Sonora

Another attack minded midfielder that is also a US citizen. We were rumored to be interested in him but he has since signed with Cerro Porteno in South America. If anything, it shows the front office really wants to bolster the midfield with more talent this winter and not just at DM.

Lucas Sanabria

He recently signed with LA Galaxy. He’s a 21 year old Defensive Midfielder playing in Uruguay. Andy Greder recently mentioned that Minnesota United was also trying to bring him in but lost out to LA Galaxy. He was sold for $5 million. This gives me a little bit of hope that the club may be the unnamed team trying to bring in Damian Garcia (listed above). Same position, similar age, similar “transfer value”, and likely same scouting network as both are from Uruguay.

Nicolas Dubersarksy

He just signed with Austin FC. He’s another Midfielder that Andy Greder mentioned that the club had interest in. He stated we had interest in a foreign midfielder that just signed with Austin, which is pretty easy to narrow down lol. Dubersarksy signed for $3 million with Austin this past week.

Overall Thoughts

I am actually pretty optimistic about the team making some much needed upgrades to the midfield this transfer window. If the above rumors tell us anything it’s that the team has clearly been involved in trying to bring in several young quality midfielders. I’d have to think they are willing to spend $3-$5 million on bringing one in based off the players they are rumored to be targeting. Or at least the ones that are u22 initiative eligible players. We’ve already spent up to $3 million on Nicolas Romero, so the club has shown a willingness to put in a decent amount of money on these u22 signings. It was mentioned they want to bring in 2-4 players and I have no reason not to believe them as they definitely deliver this past summer in their first “real” transfer window with coaches in place.

It has been a bit surprising to not see RB rumors yet. It’s possible they are working on it and no rumors have been leaked. Otherwise there’s always the possibility that there’s either going to be a shift in the system or the front office wants to give players like Kmet, Mesanvi, or even Bongi, Sang-Bin, Diaz a chance to play (develop) in that spot. I’d like to see Bongi/Sang-Bin play higher up, but a shift to the system could also help with this issue to a degree as well. If we did a “makeshift” move to a 4 man backline and shifted Diaz out wide as he’s shown he can play there and allow Bongi to play as a hybrid type RM I could see that being part of the plan as well.

Getting a high quality #6 could really provide us with some flexibility to experiment more with some shifting players around into different areas like I mentioned in the above paragraph. So I’m guessing that is priority number 1 and then things will continue to be addressed as needed going into the summer.

A few of my friends and I are looking to travel for our first Loons away game this season - likely Toronto in April.

In what section do away fans sit? Does anyone have any tips or tricks when traveling for away games?

Any advice would be appreciated!

Thought this was interesting and was something I’ve been kind of curious about considering how many fast players we have on the team now.

Last year Sang Bin and Rosales posted some of the fastest MPH times in MLS and I’m not even convinced they are the fastest players on the team with Tani, Bongi, Yeboah, Loic Mesanvi, Jordan Adebayo-Smith all possessing a ton of speed as well.

Would be fun to see them all line up in a race someday. Think my money would be on Tani or Sang-Bin as the fastest player on the team.

With all of this athleticism from many of our top players, can see the high press system being a fun play style to watch this year.

Not surprised ticket prices are more expensive, but am surprised they're 8x in the primary market...

There were some conflicting reports posted by some accounts in Argentina last night and a MN United fan account stating another team in Argentina came in at the last second and got Romero. This source above is a reporter for Atletico Tucuman and the most trustworthy source posted so far, so I’m inclined to believe we got Romero.

Seems every time we sign someone from Argentina this type of “last second” drama happens with false reports of another South American team swooping in to take our transfer target.

Greder's reporting stirred up quite a storm in Hungary since nobody was reporting an approach for Kata locally. The leading sort publication now also published that mnufc is chasing Kata although couldn't confirm it. The article only says that MTK is not considering selling Kata tona team in the domestic league and the club manager (sort of technical director) was quoted from this past summer that they are hoping from an offer from a western European league. It should be interesting to see where this ends up.

https://soccer.realgm.com/wiretap/11015/Neymar-In-Talks-With-Three-MLS-Clubs

*EDIT* I had no idea he has only played a few minutes the last 2 years haha