Minnesota United moves closer to signing forward Kelvin Yeboah as a designated player

Kelvin Yeboah has experience from Italy’s top division and could bolster the Loons’ forward line.

Minnesota United is closing in on another summer signing. A source confirmed that forward Kelvin Yeboah is expected to arrive in Minnesota this week for medical testing, in what could be one of the final steps toward one of MNUFC’s most consequential acquisitions of the summer.

Yeboah, who has experience playing as a center forward or out wide on either side, could help reinforce a Loons forward line that has played serious minutes this season. And at the age of 24, the Ghanaian-born Italian has already been quite well-traveled.

The forward, who has played for the Italian U-21 team, first came to prominence playing in Austria, where he scored 30 goals in 77 starts in all competitions over parts of five seasons — all before turning 22. This earned him a move to Genoa, in Serie A, Italy’s top division, in the winter of 2022.

Since joining Genoa, Yeboah has gone on loan three times, playing in the top divisions in Germany, France and Belgium. In 2023-24, he played a half-season for Montpelier in France and a half-season in Belgium for Standard Liège, scoring just once in France but tallying six times in 13 starts in Belgium.

Though he’s already had the career of a veteran, Yeboah is just nine days older than Loons breakout star Tani Oluwaseyi. Longtime European soccer fans might recognize his last name from his uncle, Tony Yeboah, who played for Leeds United in England and for three different teams in Germany’s Bundesliga, mostly in the 1990s.

Rumors suggest that the transfer fee for Yeboah would run into the millions, making him one of Minnesota’s most expensive signings in their history. That type of fee would also strongly suggest that Yeboah would occupy a designated player spot on Minnesota’s roster, taking up one of the spots in which the transfer fee wouldn’t affect the Loons salary cap.

MNUFC sporting director Khaled El-Ahmad and manager Eric Ramsay have said that they want their team to be a high-pressing team, but Minnesota’s lack of depth options have made that more difficult.

Sang Bin Jeong has regularly been pressed into service at right wingback, Bongokuhle Hlongwane has started each of the team’s past 11 games, and All-Star midfielder Robin Lod has spent more time as a fill-in forward than as a midfielder in the past month and a half.

Adding Yeboah would serve as fresh legs for the team’s tiring attack for the remainder of the year, and help reinforce the Loons for the future with a young player that’s just entering his prime years.