Seeking to move forward at a revolving striker position, Minnesota United has called upon its past.

The club brought back former No. 1 overall draft pick Abu Danladi after two seasons away and Luis Amarilla after one to boost a goal-scoring position it identified as its biggest need.

That remade striker's spot now also has become the Loons' most competitive — and undecided — position, as they begin their sixth MLS season Saturday afternoon at Philadelphia.

The Loons made the playoffs the past three years — one of six MLS teams to do so — by investing in their defense, but only once advanced from the first round. Too often they've been vexed by an inability to finish scoring chances in what coach Adrian Heath terms the field's "final third."

They've now rebuilt at striker, using two of their allowed "designated player" slots, their first MLS Under-22 initiative signing, two mid-first-round picks and a second chance at the first player they drafted in their inaugural 2017 season.

Heath calls that striker position "an embarrassment of riches, if you like" for a club that auditioned a dozen of them its first five seasons without finding a lasting solution.

Danladi and Amarilla join designated player and multimillion dollar investment Adrien Hunou, speedy South African prospect Bongokuhle Hlongwane and first-round draft picks Justin McMaster and Tani Oluwaseyi.

There's injured Patrick Weah, too.

That position appears deeper and younger with both skill and pace as well as what Heath calls "fierce" competition for a starting position(s) and for playing time.

The Loons under Heath's guidance rebuilt their defensive spine in 2019 by acquiring aging veterans from goalkeeper into the midfield. A season later, they added All Star playmaker Emanuel Reynoso.

The additions brought the playoffs and a run to the 2020 Western Conference finals — and one-game exits in 2019 and last season.

In that time, strikers have come and gone, some sooner than others on a team that now starts a new season without free-agent veterans Ozzie Alonso, Ethan Finlay and Jan Gregus.

Those strikers long gone have been traded, loaned out or bought out, retired or left as free agents.

Heath has seen so many come through the roster since he had Johan Venegas, Christian Ramirez and Danladi that very first season.

"Just strikers?" veteran defender Michael Boxall asked playfully. "Or everyone?"

Fans probably remember Mason Toye and Angelo Rodriguez.

They might have forgotten Argentina's Ramon Abila, MLS veterans Kei Kamara, Fanendo Adi, Juan Agudelo, Aaron Schoenfeld and prospect Foster Langsdorf, their presence however fleeting.

There's a reason Heath consistently reminds strikers often are soccer's highest-paid players — and the hardest to find.

"We've seen some come and go," said Boxall, who joined the Loons midway through their inaugural season. "We've had different types of players who've come in and tried, but for one reason or another they really haven't done the job.

"This group of players now have scored goals wherever they've been and they should be able to thrive in this league with these players around them."

Danladi, 26, returns as a low-risk, one-season signing two years after Nashville claimed him in an expansion draft. Amarilla is back at 26, too, after he returned to Ecuador's top division last season.

Both strikers and their coach declare there's "unfinished business" left.

Heath hoped Amarilla would return in 2021 for a second season and called himself "really disappointed" when Amarilla didn't. The two kept in touch during that season apart.

Injuries sidetracked Danladi's career after a productive, sometimes spectacular rookie season in which he was MLS Rookie of the Year runner-up. Now he's back in a place he says "is home, you know?" even if he was born in Ghana and educated in California.

Danladi also is older, wiser and he said more attuned to his body.

"I've made no secrets: I love him as a kid," Heath said. "He's infectious, always smiling, enthusiastic. He brings something every single day. Now he just needs a break. He needs to stay healthy for a year. It has never been about his ability. It's always been about durability."

A painful heel injury and pandemic-truncated schedule stunted Amarilla's lone MLS season.

"It was an idea far more than a wish I had to return," Amarilla said in Spanish through a team interpreter. "The moments I had here, it felt comfortable and my family, too, enjoyed it. I had my mom here. It's very nice to get back together with my teammates because it was a wish left pending that I wasn't able to complete back in 2020."

Amarilla boldly promised 25 goals before that shortened 2020 season and delivered three. He scored one each in the Loons' first two games before MLS suspended its season four months and a third when it resumed play with the MLS is Back tournament in Orlando.

"He owes us 23 goals," Heath said slyly. "He said it's really only 22 because he's counting the one he scored down in the bubble."

The Loons have a half-dozen striker candidates headed into a season when Heath could choose one full-time starter, or play two or more together in a formation changed from Heath's preferred 4-2-3-1 to a 4-3-3.

Or they could go with a by-committee approach.

Danladi started preseason games because Heath deemed him the sharpest striker currently, at least until just-signed Amarilla plays himself into shape. When he does, Heath said Amarilla could contend for the MLS "Golden Boot" awarded to the regular season's top goal scorer.

"He's got goals in him," Heath said.

The Loons paid Hunou a guaranteed salary approaching $2.6 million — according to the MLS Players Association — when they acquired him from France's first division last April.

He didn't play until Memorial Day weekend and scored seven goals in the 26 games he played. Heath compares Hunou's debut to right-side attacker Robin Lod's first MLS season, when he arrived midway and didn't deliver on expectations until his first full season a year later.

"I don't want to make excuses, but I arrived in the season," Hunou said in improved English. "I'm happy to be here, and I feel really good. … It's not easy when players like me arrive during the season. But now we know each other. It is better. It's going to be better."

He vows he will be, too.

"I have to be better," Hunou said. "It's not easy when you finish a season and start a new one in a new country where you have to speak another language. But it is my job. I prefer to reach for solutions, not problems."

Heath left England to play in Spain near his career's end. He knows the difference a season makes and says "we've got to get more" from Hunou.

"I did it in my career," Heath said. "He will be a lot better this year. I expect him to be the player we saw when he was playing for Rennais, when he was a real threat. We expect to see the same this year."

From a team once short of strikers, the Loons now have, in Heath's estimation, eight or nine capable attackers and scorers when you add wingers Lod, Franco Fragapane and Reynoso, who has found a connection with Amarilla in training.

"We've got a lot of strength and depth there now and we're going to need them all," said Heath, the only coach the Loons have ever had. "Over the course of the season, you have suspensions, injuries, international duty. We're going to need that depth. Certainly, this probably is the healthiest striker position we've had since I've been here."