Amos Magee, Minnesota United’s director of player personnel, is headed to Chile this weekend for a scouting trip that will include eight professional games.

“There are specific guys that we’ve been looking at in South America,” United’s Sporting Director Manny Lagos said Thursday.

Lagos said the trips might not produce immediate player acquisitions but are aimed at providing long-term success for the Major League Soccer expansion franchise. United previously took scouting trips to Scandinavia, Costa Rica and Argentina. Related Articles Minnesota United acquires striker Kei Kamara in trade with Colorado

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“Certainly leagues start to close their season there in South America, so … this is a good opportunity to look at key players,” Lagos said. “Nothing to say that it’s going to result in anything short term, but it’s again part of our long-term scouting goal of making sure we build our depth chart and our scouting network.

“Sometimes these trips lead to a player in two or three years, so it’s important that we continue to make sure we’re getting ready for our cycle of how we’re going to scout for the club in the future.”

FUTURE ROSTER MOVES?

Lagos said the Loons will be “measured” in how they continue to build the roster with moves in the next couple months. Lagos said domestic moves would be the likely area to mine before the primary transfer window closes May 8.

The front office will assess possible acquisitions based on finances and how the player’s character might mesh with the club and how their contribution fits needs on the field.

“There is no doubt that we are going to be thinking about the summer and how we can grow and get better, and there is no doubt that additions will be part of that dialog,” Lagos said. “But we are still in that phase where we have to get to know this group and the coaches have to get to know the group, both in the individuals and the group as a unit, before we can definitely say there are some bigger moves we want to make.”

CURRENT SALARIES

United has used its Target Allocation Money (TAM), or roughly $1.2 million within an MLS budget mechanism for more expensive players, in two different ways on three players.

For defender Vadim Demidov, United’s most expensive player with guaranteed compensation at $550,000, the Loons will use TAM to buy down part of his salary to get it somewhere under the league’s maximum budget charge of $480,000 for a single player.

For defender Francisco Calvo ($330,000) and midfielder Rasmus Schuller ($225,000), TAM went toward the transaction cost with Calvo’s previous club in Costa Rica and Schuller’s in Sweden.

Within the budget numbers released by the MLS players’ union on Tuesday, the Loons ranked 19th in the 22-team league with guaranteed compensation of $5.3 million. Only the Houston Dynamo, D.C. United and Montreal Impact checked in lower.

United also does not have any “designated players,” a category for each club to sign up to three players to salaries above the budget max.

This means there is more money included in the acquisitions of players that doesn’t show up within the budget figures released by the players’ union. For instance, Atlanta United attacker Miguel Almiron is a designated player with a guaranteed compensation of $2.2 million, according to the union. But his transfer fee to Argentina club Lanus was reported to be $8 million, according to ESPN.