Minnesota United’s new head coach Eric Ramsay and sporting director Khaled El-Ahmad are fluent in at least three languages and conversational in a couple more.
Ramsay calls that important as he looks across his team’s dressing room and around MLS.
In Blaine and Allianz Field he sees a team that has six players — including star midfielder Emanuel Reynoso — who speak Spanish as their first language. He also hears Swedish and Korean in addition to the English, Spanish and French he already speaks.
Then there’s Welsh, Ramsay’s home-country language that they say takes twice as long to learn as French.
“My wife is an avid proponent of the Welsh language, which I am getting there,” he said, referring to his wife Sioned. “I would add that to the list. She might say otherwise.”
El-Ahmad has conducted early discussions with Emanuel Reynoso and other Spanish-speaking Loons with each speaking his own language through a staff member who interpreted.
Whichever the language, Ramsay said he has had meaningful discussions his first week on the job with Reynoso, who is expected to make his 2024 debut in the season’s fourth week against Los Angeles F.C. He hasn’t been ready to play until now because of a knee injury sustained in preseason training.
“Reynoso obviously is a huge part of this,” Ramsay said. “With all the talented players, me and the staff have to find a way to fit the pieces of the jigsaw.
