With Adrian Heath announced Tuesday as Minnesota United’s new head coach, the next step for the Loons is to put together a roster of players.

The clock is ticking. United needs to mold a 28-player roster within three months, before their debut season in Major League Soccer kicks off in early March.

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Loons acquire backup goalkeeper Adrian Zendejas from Nashville Loons sporting director Manny Lagos has been doing groundwork behind the scenes and said Heath’s hire needed to occur before a lot of player signings could be finalized and made public.

“There are going to be plenty of announcements over the next few weeks,” Heath said.

United is known to have signed only two players from last year’s roster — fullbacks Kevin Venegas and Justin Davis. That leaves 26 spots to be filled.

Lagos and Heath head to Central and South America on Wednesday to scout players. The Loons will have five picks in the MLS expansion draft on Dec. 13 and the first overall pick in the MLS SuperDraft for collegiate players on Jan. 13. They also could have designated player signings as well as waiver and re-entry mechanisms to add players.

“We’ve got a list of probably eight to nine players that the pair of us like,” Heath said. “How many of them can we bring in? Can we financially afford it? Are they available? All of that comes in.”

Heath said he’s watched about 70 to 80 matches in the past three or four days to re-acclimate himself.

“We are in that situation where we are trying to look at people out there from everywhere to come in and have an impact,” Heath said.

Lagos said Heath understands the work ahead, with the trip to Central and South American as a primary example.

“These are two red-eye flights there and back, and we will have loads of games, meetings,” Lagos said. “It’s a part of who he is, and he understands that.”

Lagos said the club is not under a deadline of Nov. 30 to sign players from last year’s roster, or jeopardize losing their rights. “But this will definitely speed up some decision-making process because it’s a part of the roster building that we have to have occur,” he said.

Lagos acknowledged players on last year’s roster are in a state of limbo.

“I’ve actually met with each player individually to talk about that. We don’t think we can give a lot of the direct information until after this hire” of Heath, Lagos said. “I think the players have been unbelievably patient and understanding of the situation we are in.”

FULLER TO REMAIN

Assistant coach Ian Fuller will remain on staff with United next season. Fuller coached under Heath at Orlando City from 2011-15 and joined the Loons before last season.

“I will be heavily relying on people with the club, like Ian Fuller,” Heath said. “He worked with me for five years down in Austin (Texas) and in Orlando. He knows the type of players and the type of characters I like.”

Heath said he expects to add one more coach in the next few days.

CIRCLED DATE

The MLS schedule will be released in the coming weeks, and Heath will have a pen ready to circle the match at Orlando City.

He helped lead Orlando in its move from Austin, Texas, to Orlando in 2011 as a United Soccer League team and up to MLS in 2015. He helped pick out the club’s purple and gold colors and gave input on their new stadium.

Amid a three-year plan as an expansion franchise, Heath was fired in July with a 16-18-16 record in a 1 1/2 season.

“It would be closure to go back to the stadium,” Heath said. “It would be nice to go back and say a goodbye to the people who have been incredible to me and my family.”

BRIEFLY

United expects to have its youth development academy up and running within the next year. MLS mandates that each club have an academy that can, in part, feed top players to the first team.