WASHINGTON, April 30 (Xinhua) -- In spite of the disruption wreaked by the COVID-19 pandemic, Major League Soccer (MLS) newcomer Charlotte is continuing with preparations towards its series debut next year.
Charlotte MLS sporting director Zoran Krneta told the MLS website on Thursday that the club is on schedule to compete in the 2021 season as planned. "We were kind of lucky that we knew early that the franchise might be ours, so we started preparations. And on the day that we were awarded, we already had the main people," Krneta said.
"From the middle of January we were working full-time. The scouting department, technical department was brought on, the people for youth development were brought on. So I would say that in some areas like scouting or identifying players and head coach, we are almost a little ahead of where we might be expected to be," he added.
Charlotte, which became the 30th MLS franchise last December, will start signing players as soon as this summer, despite football's global transfer market having been disrupted by the pandemic. The team plans to have its first-ever squad report for pre-season in early January 2021.
"We've been scouting all over the world, there is not really a continent where we don't have potential targets right now," said Krneta. "We would ideally like to see some of these players live, although this is not always the most important thing. We can watch 20, 30 games on them and dig through the data, the analytics and other information."
Krneta added that the team will also look to focus on developing domestic players. "I think the USA has an incredible pool of talent. The mindset has to be focused on finding them and developing them," he said.
Charlotte's next major task is to appoint their head coach, and while the club has already held preliminary conversations with potential candidates from abroad, Krneta said that American coaches are also being considered for the position.
"We want a coach that will fit the profile of Charlotte and the club," said Krneta. "Charlotte is a vibrant, full of energy, relatively young, ambitious city, and from there you can get some of the profile and characteristics of the coach." Enditem
