The price of doing business in MLS is going up. Can Minnesota United keep up?

FC Cincinnati spent a league-record $16.2 million transfer fee to Belgian club Cercle Brugge for Togolese forward Kevin Denkey in November. Other clubs — namely Chicago Fire, St. Louis City and Atlanta United — are rumored to be in the market to spend even more than that on one player this winter.

Meanwhile, the Loons’ record transfer fee spend is $5 million for Emanuel Reynoso in 2020, and MNUFC is not expected to break that mark in the near future.

United spent more than $4 million in combined fees for forward Kelvin Yeboah and midfielder Joaquin Pereyra last summer and is currently working to bring in two to four players during the primary transfer window, which runs from Jan. 31 to April 23.

United has allocated a few million available to spend on new players, and two positions of need are center back and midfielder — with offensive reinforcements also on the list. The Under-22 Initiative figures to be a likely roster mechanism to make additions, and with a new contract for Bongi Hlongwane only needing league approval, the Loons will have two U22 spots open.

Since advancing to the Western Conference semifinals last year, the Loons have cleared up more than $1.3 million salary space with the exits of several players, primarily defender Micky Tapias ($811,875 in guaranteed compensation, per MLS Players Association), winger Franco Fragapane ($310,500) and goalkeeper Clint Irwin ($203,533).

MNUFC has five open roster spots and at least two vacant international roster slots, a number which will likely grow with current players going out on loans or receiving U.S. Green Cards and outgoing foreign players coming off the roster.

Last year, new Chief Soccer Officer Khaled El-Ahmad did not arrive in Minnesota until the end of January, and head coach Eric Ramsay did not take over until mid-March. Both are in place now and have one transfer window under their belts, with five total additions last summer.

“It’s a difficult market; it’s not easy,” Ramsay said Monday of making moves during the winter months. “There are a lot of complexities to it, but in the way the club handled the makeup of the squad toward the end of last year, we’ve got space to add players. There is definitely an appetite to do so.

“The guys behind the scenes are working very hard, so it’s difficult to say in concrete (terms) when we might start to see new faces, but I can say with certainty that is definitely the plan. We are well set-up behind the scenes to make that happen.”

Last winter, El-Ahmad dipped his toe in the transfer window and went a bit deeper last summer, but he is not expected to go head first into the deep end this winter. He has stated a need to set up a cultural foundation and address processes and the club’s facilities before going to club management about making a really significant move.

Plus, all three Designated Player spots are currently occupied, although that could soon change if the Loons move on from DP striker Teemu Pukki and his club-high $3.5 million salary. If that happens, a DP addition might be in the cards come summer.

The Loons have been linked to a few players this winter: Argentine center back Nicolas Romero, 21; U.S. midfielder Alan Sonora, 26, of Huracan; and Serbian mid Luka Ilic, 25.

On paper, Romero seems to fit the mold as a young center back, and he plays for Tucuman in Argentina, which MNUFC just did business with in bringing Pereyra to Minnesota.

Even more spending opportunities opened up in MLS with Tuesday’s announcement that clubs can spend unlimited amounts of cash to acquire players via intraleague trades.

This is on top of news that General Allocation Money (GAM) is no longer expiring after three transfer windows. This is good news for MNUFC, which MLS reported in December has the fifth-highest amount of GAM, or budget space, at $4.5 million. Some of that money, however, can be allocated to take players such as Pereyra off the DP line.

MLS has established two roster-building routes, and El-Ahmad has said the Loons will be moving toward the two DPs and four U22 spots, along with $2 million in allocation money.

In December, Loons CEO Shari Ballard explained the club’s process for roster improvements.

“We budget discretionary dollars, but we also have a very open understanding with Khaled and our ownership group that, as the guys are working on the roster and they’re going after players that they think are the right fit,” She said. “When and if they believe there’s somebody they want to bring on board that puts us outside of that discretionary spend, they should bring that forward with their recommendation, and we’ll make decisions on that.”

Ballard said she, managing owner Bill McGuire and the broader ownership group had those discussions in 2024.

“I feel very confident that when the (technical staff) come forward with recommendations on what they want to do for the roster, I think they could tell you, we listen,” Ballard said. “That said, we’re not going to be the highest spending team in the league, and we don’t think that’s necessarily the way to win — and it’s certainly not going to work for our club. But they’re not artificially capped. If they come forward and want to do something that they think significantly improves the roster, we do that together.”

Last season, Minnesota was 25th in total salary spending in the 29-team league, but out-performed that rank by finishing in the top eight in the MLS Cup Playoffs.