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Heading into 2021 Minnesota United has a large glaring weakness, one it’s always had. It’s forward department. During last season MNUFC picked up Kei Kamara from the Colorado Rapids in mid-September to have a primary option at the top of the pitch. At the same time this displaced Mason Toye from that spot where he had been playing.
Fast forward a few weeks and the Loons would send Mason Toye to the Montréal Impact (now Club de Foot Montréal) on October 1st for a combined $600K in general allocation money and a 2nd round pick in the 2021 MLS SuperDraft. This dropped MNUFC down to just Kamara as an option up top for the club.
Kamara would end up not returning to the Loons for the 2021 season which left the side with no viable options to be the main man up top.
Currently the Loons have just three forwards under their wings. Foster Langsdorf was signed at the end of October 2020 ahead of the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs for MNUFC. He spent last season with the now defunct Reno 1868 side in the USL Championship. Langsdorf has a total of three career appearances in Major League Soccer, one with MNUFC and two with Portland Timbers.
Minnesota also signed two other forwards in March of this year ahead of heading down to Florida for the last part of preseason training. Those two were the Homegrown Player, Patrick Weah and former Inter Miami, New England Revolution, Chivas USA, and New York Red Bull player Juan Agudelo. You can read more about both players here in our story from the opening of training camp.
Unfortunately the forwards are the biggest weakness the Loons have and one good striker could really push MNUFC to a solid MLS Cup contender. But as long as the Attacking Midfielders keep being the driving scoring force Minnesota, even without a top tier striker, could and should be a solid contender for the playoffs.
Minnesota United FC opens the season on Friday, April 16th with an away match against Seattle Sounders at Lumen Field in Seattle, WA. Stay tuned to E Pluribus Loonum for all your 2021 MNUFC and Major League Soccer needs.