Minnesota United signed midfielder Jan Gregus as their third Designated Player this week. He is the absolutely perfect player, if he’s good enough.
Minnesota United needed help. They missed out on the playoffs rather comfortably, although they were kind of in the mix for longer than many realised, and lacked the top-tier quality to ever challenge the playoff elite of MLS.
Midway through the season, the introduction of Darwin Quintero as the club’s first ever Designated Player revitalised the campaign and injected an element of life and vivacity into the team.
Angelo Rodriguez arrived later in the year and gradually settled into the team, scoring three goals in his final five starts of the season. He has not been as successful as Quintero, but there is still time to grow and develop.
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The overarching lesson is clear: Designated Players make a team better. Who knew? And Minnesota are now adding their third DP of their existence. This week, the Loons announced their latest acquisition: Slovakian international Jan Gregus, a 27-year-old midfielder who has played for the past two seasons with FC Copenhagen in the Superliga in Denmark.
Gregus is not a household name. He has not played in La Liga or the Premier League. He is obviously not known in MLS circles either. But if you are to dig into what he offers a team, it is clear that he is absolutely perfect for what Minnesota require, if he is any good, that is.
Gregus is a naturally deep-lying midfielder, traditionally classed as a number six, but he plays the role with a gearing towards his work in possession. Gregus is not a tough-tackling, game-wrecking defensive midfielder. But he is an aware, intelligent, positionally smart player who can screen the defence through his poise, rather than any power or physicality.
Head Coach Manny Lagos, speaking with The Athletic, is clear about the role that Gregus will play and the style in which he will play it with:
"“He’s very comfortable playing in front of a back four. It’s very impressive how high a level he plays that role. Right now, Slovakia plays a 4-1-4-1 and he’s playing in behind (Napoli’s) Marek Hamšík and Rusnák. It lets you know the type of ability he has to play in a position where we need to get better.”"
The key element for Minnesota is that Gregus plays a position that desperately required investment all season long. Fernando Bob, Maximiano, Rasmus Schuller, Ibson. All tried to fill the different midfield positions at different points in the season with varying success. But now Minnesota have a true defensive midfielder to anchor the whole team and provide the key foundation of the 4-3-3 that Lagos is likely to implement, using a double-pivot in front of the Slovakian star.
The problem is this: no one really knows how good Gregus is. He should be good. He has played in the Champions League, he plays for his country, the Danish league is a comparable standard to that of MLS. But as is the case whenever a club invests in a foreign player who has no experience of the league, no one actually knows how successful they will be.
Gregus is the perfect player to address Minnesota’s needs. He ticks all of the boxes. But that is only true if he is actually any good. It sounds stupid to say in such basic terms, but that is the fact of the matter. Time, as it always does, will tell.