Eric Ramsay became the youngest head coach in Major League Soccer history when he left Manchester United to join Minnesota United.
The 32-year-old Welshman, who worked under Erik ten Hag as a first-team coach at Old Trafford, is the most recent British coach to move across the Atlantic, following in the footsteps of Dean Smith and Phil Neville.
“I’m really delighted to be joining a club with such a strong football culture, a fan-base that is passionate, and brilliant infrastructure,” Ramsay said in a statement released by Minnesota United.
Throughout the process, I’ve had numerous conversations with club employees, and you can’t help but sense their enthusiasm for advancing the organization.
Under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ramsay became a coach at Manchester United in 2021. In 2023, he assisted in coaching the Wales national team.
Prior to joining the Chelsea Under-23 squad, he worked as an interim head coach at his hometown team, Shrewsbury, and began his career coaching at the youth levels at Swansea.
In 2019, Ramsay obtained his UEFA Pro License, making him the youngest British coach to do so.
“After a rigorous search that featured dozens of strong domestic and international candidates, we are sure that Eric Ramsay is the finest choice to manage our club,” stated Khaled El-Ahmad, Chief Soccer Officer of Minnesota.
“His alignment in playing style and development philosophy, together with his experience dealing with elite players, coaches, and sporting staff at both the club and international level, all match with our vision for MNUFC going forward.
completed the signing of head coach Eric Ramsay on Monday, following the remarkably protracted process of replacing Adrian Heath, just one game into the MLS regular season.
As Ramsay gets his work visa, he will join the club. The Englishman, who grew up in Wales, was a first-team coach at Manchester United in the English Premier League under current manager Erik ten Hag.
In a statement released by the Loons, Ramsay said, “I’m really delighted to be joining a club with such a strong football culture, a fan-base that is passionate, and brilliant infrastructure.
I’ve had numerous conversations with club personnel throughout the course of the process, and you can’t help but sense their shared enthusiasm for advancing the organization.
The future seems to have a lot of intriguing possibilities.
Heath was fired on October 6, just before the Loons missed the playoffs after qualifying for the postseason the previous four years. Heath was the club’s first head coach after joining MLS as an expansion team in 2017.
After being appointed as an interim coach, Sean McAuley left in January. In the season opener on Saturday, the Loons defeated Austin 2-1 under the leadership of Cameron Knowles, who was named the team’s next interim coach.
