Minnesota United is exploring options to move on from slumping striker Luis Amarilla.
The news site Bolavip said Wednesday, via a Spanish translation, that Liga de Quito is in negotiations with the Loons for Amarilla to come back to the club in Ecuador’s capital city. The Pioneer Press understands other clubs, including in Mexico, also might become landing spots the 27-year-old Paraguayan.
Amarilla’s potential exit coincides with the Loons being in the market for a new striker once the summer transfer window opens July 5. The club seeks a forward with a proven goal-scoring record, and that acquisition would come with a bigger price tag.
Amarilla occupies one of the Loons’ three Designated Player spots, and one of those three DP slots would need to be open to bring in the type of player MNUFC is targeting this summer.
Amarilla signed a two-year contract going into the 2022 season, with club options for the 2024 and ’25 seasons, meaning his deal is set to expire after this season. Amarilla receives $810,000 in guaranteed compensation in 2023, according to the MLS Players’ Association.
On top of that DP spot, offloading Amarilla would free up some salary, but not an international spot; he received his U.S. green card in late February.
Amarilla’s exit might come before the MLS summer transfer window opens up, with other countries’ windows open sooner. And clubs such as Liga de Quito are playing in Copa Sudamericana, which is South America’s big regional tournament.
Amarilla participated in Thursday’s training session in Blaine, with the Loons returning to MLS play against Real Salt Lake at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Allianz Field.
Amarilla has not scored an open-play goal in 652 minutes for the Loons this season. The Paraguyan’s two goals both came on penalty kicks and he appears to be having a crisis of confidence in front of goal; he is underperforming his expected goals (3.1, per fbref.com).
Amarilla played for Liga de Quito in 2021 after his loan with MNUFC ran out in 2020. Amarilla was then sold from parent club Velez Sarsfield to the Loons in 2022. He scored nine goals and had four assists for MNUFC in 2,349 MLS minutes last season.
The Loons paid a transfer fee of roughly $1.4 million to Velez for Amarilla last year. Amarilla scored 16 goals in 1,830 minutes for Ecuadorian club Universidad Catolica in 2019 before coming to MNUFC. In his first stint in Minnesota in 2020, he had two goals in 432 minutes for the Loons while battling injuries.
Reynoso returns
Loons star Emanuel Reynoso participated in the early portion of Thursday’s training session. The Argentine midfielder is slowly integrating himself into the first team after being suspended for the opening 12 games of the season.
Manager Adrian Heath said Reynoso had some tightness after his toughest workouts in the previous three days. Reynoso has yet to do the strenuous “beep” fitness test.
Heath expects Reynoso to return to full-team training next week, but the Loons manager would not commit to whether the two-time MLS All-Star will play in a game before the international window in mid-June.
“I’m not going to put a time limit on it because then you guys (reporters) are going to hold me to that,” Heath said. “Then say, ‘Why is he not playing because you said he was going to be playing?’ ”
All fun and games
After Thursday’s practice, Loons leading scorer Bongi Hlongwane acted as a goalkeeper, even putting on the gloves as teammates fired shots at him. At one point, Hlongwane appeared to take a shot to the groin, but was able to soon shake it off.
“They tried to kill me,” Hlongwane joked.
Heath did not think Hlongwane will provide an option in net in case of an emergency. “Looking at him,” Heath said, “there are a lot of goals going in, so we won’t be using him as a goalkeeper any time soon.”
Briefly
Center back Micky Tapias (knee) is available to play Saturday after being held out of the Loons’ 4-0 loss to the Houston Dynamo in the U.S. Open Cup on Tuesday. … Dynamo forward Corey Baird appeared to mimic Hlongwane’s goal-scoring dance after one of his three goals in Texas. Hlongwane saw video and said come their next match against Houston on July 12, a celebration “might be the (other) way around.” … MNUFC2 beat L.A. Galaxy II 3-2 on Wednesday, with young Swedish/Brazilian defender Mikael Marques coming back from an ankle injury to play 45 minutes. Diogo Pacheco had two assists, and Juan Mosquera scored the winning goal.
