How close are Manny Lagos and Amos Magee? Kyle Altman, who played under both as a member of the Minnesota Thunder in 2008, remembers it this way.

“I would talk to Amos on the phone and Amos would say something like, ‘Manny and I were talking about this …’ ” Altman said. “Or I was talking to Manny and he would say, ‘Amos and I were talking about this …’ ”

Much has happened in the past eight years, but nothing to change the relationship between Lagos, the sporting director leading Minnesota United into Major League Soccer, and Magee, the man he picked to help build the expansion franchise’s first roster.

The relationship goes all the way back to St. Paul Academy, where they were teammates in the 1980s and won a state championship in 1987. Now pro soccer veterans, their relationship will be instrumental during Tuesday’s MLS expansion draft, when Minnesota and Atlanta United each pick five players left unprotected by the league’s 20 existing clubs.

The list of each MLS club’s 11 protected players will become public on Monday. Based on projections and analysis, Minnesota could nab one or two potential starters. Atlanta has the first pick.

Lagos hire Magee as United’s director of player personnel in November. Charged with helping uncover potential MLS players, Magee brings front-office experience with two successful MLS clubs, D.C. United and Portland Timbers.

When Lagos and Magee finished their playing careers, including MLS stints for both, they reconnected with the Thunder, the former incarnation of Minnesota’s pro soccer team in 2006. Lagos was director of soccer operations, Magee was head coach before he left for the Timbers in 2008 because of what he called “mitigating circumstances” that ended in teams failing to make the playoffs.

“I have a very good, long-standing relationship with Manuel,” Magee said when he was hired in November. “The fact that we weren’t successful working together in 2007 and 2008 affected us both. I’ve always believed in him; I think he always believed in me. We both felt like we failed at that point … but the thing that never failed was our friendship and our belief in each other.”

While there were failures, both Magee and Lagos count the discovery of Altman, and his performance with the team into 2013, as one of their greatest successes.

Their highest-profile procurement was Miguel Ibarra, who was drafted by the Portland Timbers but didn’t fit there. Magee was the Timbers’ director of soccer development and recommended that Lagos give Ibarra a shot in Minnesota.

“Amos called us up and said, ‘Here’s this kid who has done pretty well and you should have a look at him. We’re not going to sign him,’ ” Lagos recalled. “We brought him out and had him train a couple of days.”

In Minnesota, Ibarra blossomed into a speedy outside midfielder and received call-ups to the U.S. men’s national team before United sold him in a package deal to Club Leon of Mexico’s top league, Liga MX, for about $1 million in 2015.

Altman was a NCAA Division III All-American at Trinity University in San Antonio when Magee had added coaching duties with the Jewish-American team for the 2007 Pan American Maccabi Games in Buenos Aires.

Magee was searching high and low for players of Jewish heritage when he came across Altman. Together, they won a gold medal in Argentina.

Altman was drafted by the New England Revolution in the 2008 MLS Supplemental Draft, but after a month training with the Revs he was sent home. He then cashed in on an open invitation to join Magee and Lagos in Minnesota.

After the 2008 season, Magee went to Portland’s front office and attempted to give Altman a shot with the Timbers, who were early in the process of making the jump to MLS.

“I tried to bring him out in front of some other coaches in Portland, and they didn’t feel … the way Manny and I felt,” Magee said.

But Magee and Lagos were onto something. The Thunder became the Stars in 2010, and Altman stuck around to be a three-time captain (2011-13) who helped Minnesota win the North American Soccer League championship in 2011.

“We actually talk sometimes about — we talk a lot about, actually — what we are looking for in certain players, and what makes up a dynamic of a player,” Magee said. “It isn’t always how fast or how strong or how technical (a player is) a lot of times, it’s how they act off the field. It’s what they bring to you.

“We both found real common ground in (Altman) because we believed in him holistically.”

Altman, who left United in 2013 to attend medical school in Texas, said any achievements he had in pro soccer were due to opportunities provided by Magee and Lagos. He made 101 appearances with Minnesota pro teams during his career.

“I like to think that I have a strong character,” Altman said. “I think that is something that they saw in me, and they gave me the opportunity and the freedom to express myself.”

Lagos and Magee’s quest to uncover more Altmans and Ibarras officially begins on Tuesday.

“We don’t always agree, but we certainly know there is a lot of common ground,” Magee said. “(Altman) is a perfect example of what suits his taste, and both of our tastes.”