Minnesota United CEO Shari Ballard knows the clock is ticking toward the Loons’ 2024 season — and things need to get done.

Last week, the Loons checked their biggest offseason box: hiring a new Chief Soccer Officer in Khaled El-Ahmad. But when the club’s new sporting leader will arrive in Minnesota from Barnsley remains an open question.

MNUFC now needs to hire a new head coach — with eight current vacancies in MLS — and El-Ahmad’s involvement in that decision will be limited because he still works full-time for that English third-division club.

“I’m impatient by nature, too, and if I were our fans, I’d be going crazy, probably, from an impatience perspective, and I get it because people care,” Ballard said during a video call Wednesday with reporters. “I don’t love (the timing), but am I losing sleep over it? Absolutely not.”

Ballard said she was willing to make a short-term “tradeoff” when it came to the big picture of El-Ahmad’s hiring and the short-term issue with his unknown arrival date.

“What it came down to was: the choice of the right candidate for our club and the inconvenience of a time delay,” Ballard said. “Or somebody who could get here right now, but who I didn’t feel like was the absolute best choice for the club. And I do believe Khalid is the best choice for the club.”

El-Ahmad’s contract with Barnsley expires in July, but as both CEO and sporting director there, he wants to have a smooth transition to his successor(s). Ballard said, out of respect for El-Ahmad’s wishes, MNUFC is not leveraging his move to the Loons with a buyout.

Barnsley said last week it is working on filling those roles, and when that happens, El-Ahmad will come to MNUFC.

MNUFC had “a lot” of candidates for its CSO position, and El-Ahmad fit one of three profiles the club set: an experienced sporting director. El-Ahmad’s name was generated from a few sources in the hiring process.

“A bunch” of candidates came in for interviews and El-Ahmad separated himself to Ballard on his second conversation. “I liked his experience going into the conversation, but I really loved what he had to say,” she said. “I liked his life experience and his approach and liked the questions he asked me.”

Before the hire was made, Ballard and El-Ahmad discussed what they want in a new MLS coach. Ballard said those discussions started early because she knew there was going to be a delay in his arrival.

Ballard said El-Ahmad will not make the “full decision” on the next head coach hiring but will have input. The first decision for MNUFC will be how it will approach the head coach hire.

Ballard anticipates the next coach will be hired before preseason starts in early January.

The scope of conversations between Ballard and El-Ahmad haven’t stopped at the head coach role and some chats have gone into late nights Minnesota time.

“I was talking to him about some of the (behind-the-scenes sporting) roles we have open,” Ballard said. “And his view on it is, ‘I will eventually want input on every one of those roles because they all are going to matter.’ ”

Ballard said short-term roster decisions will be made by her, interim technical director Hank Stebbins, interim head coach Sean McAuley and transitioning CSO Manny Lagos. “These guys are not all rookies,” she said.

The overall aim, Ballard said, is setting the club up for long-term success — beyond quick exits in the MLS Cup Playoffs.

“We’re really not building this by January,” Ballard said. “All the things that we think need to be done to raise the level of performance of the club, and to allow the club to compete long-term at a higher level than just making the playoffs and then getting out of the playoffs, but actually deep runs in the playoffs and giving us the chance to actually win a cup.”

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