Minnesota United signed nine-year MLS veteran midfielder Julian Gressel, who quickly joined the Loons on the practice field Tuesday morning.

Inter Miami waived Gressel in an apparent salary-shedding move after he was unable to crack the lineup so far this season under new head coach Javier Mascherano. He appeared in 32 games last year, helping Miami finish with the best record in Major League Soccer.

Gressel is under contract through the 2026 season with a club option for 2027.

Click the video box on this page to watch Julian Gressel’s press conference during his first practice session with Minnesota United, and head coach Eric Ramsay on signing Gressel, coming off the team’s first loss since the season opener and this weekend’s match at Austin

Born in Neustadt, Germany, the 31-year-old was the MLS Rookie of the Year in 2017, playing for Atlanta United in their first season in MLS. He recorded an assist in a memorably snowy debut at Huntington Bank Stadium as Atlanta faced Minnesota United in the Loons first-ever home game as an MLS team.

He’s also played six matches with the U.S. Men’s National Team, won two MLS Cups (Atlanta 2018, Columbus 2023) and a U.S. Open Cup (Atlanta 2019).

Through the first ten games of the season, United enters this weekend standing 4th in the Western Conference (4-2-4). Their next match is at Austin on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

More, from Minnesota’ United’s official announcement of Gressel’s signing:

GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. (April 29, 2025) — Minnesota United today announced that the club has acquired versatile MLS veteran Julian Gressel off waivers. Gressel is under contract through December of 2026, with a club option for 2027.

“I’m really excited to be here at Minnesota United and to get integrated into the group,” said Julian Gressel. “I can’t wait to get started with the guys and continue the momentum that has been established within the team.”

“We welcome Julian and his family to Minnesota and are excited for him to join our team,” said MNUFC Chief Soccer Officer Khaled El-Ahmad. “Julian brings an impressive depth of MLS experience and championship pedigree to Minnesota. He is a proven winner and competitor and our hope is that he will contribute those qualities to our team and continue to push our club forward throughout the rest of this season and beyond.”

A veteran of MLS, Julian Gressel joins Minnesota United from Inter Miami CF where he played for the South Florida side during the 2024 and 2025 seasons, making 32 MLS regular-season game appearances and providing nine assists. Gressel was a mainstay and played a vital role with the Miami squad that captured the 2024 MLS Supporters’ Shield trophy as the team with the most points in that season, notably a single-season record with 74 points.

The German-born, United States international began his career in MLS when he was selected as the eighth-overall pick in the 2017 MLS SuperDraft by Atlanta United FC. With Atlanta, Gressel made nearly 100 game appearances, earning 2017 MLS Rookie of the Year honors and helping the team capture the 2018 MLS Cup championship and 2019 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup titles. He then was traded to D.C. United and featured prominently for the team from 2020-2022 before being sent to Vancouver Whitecaps FC, competing for the Canadian side from 2022-2023, winning back-to-back Canadian Championships. During the summer of 2023, Gressel was sent to Columbus Crew, where he played a key role and helped the Ohio team lift the 2023 MLS Cup trophy.

Overall, across all MLS competitions (regular-season and MLS Cup Playoffs) since 2017, Gressel has made an impressive 258 game appearances (232 starts), where he has provided 67 assists and has scored 28 goals, to-date.

Internationally, Gressel has represented the United States. He was called up to camp for the first time in January of 2023 and was then named to the final squad ahead of the 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup, where he earned his first cap in a group-stage victory over St. Kitts and Nevis. To-date, Gressel has made six game appearances for the Stars and Stripes.

Transaction: Minnesota United acquires Julian Gressel off waivers. Gressel is under contract through December of 2026, with a club option for 2027.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) – Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison faced the Republican-dominated House fraud committee Monday to answer questions about Feeding Our Future.

Feeding Our Fraud

AG on tape:

The GOP has called a recently released recording “disturbing” – saying Ellison offered support for criminal defendants in the country’s largest pandemic scam.

A month before the FBI raided the Feeding Our Future headquarters, at least a few of its fraudsters had a meeting with Ellison.

“We need you in this fight with us,” the group implored Ellison in December 2021.

The group identified as the Minnesota Minority Business Association complained to Ellison that East African businesses faced racism from state agencies.

“April 30th, I got shut down,” said Abdulkadir Nur Salah, the now-convicted former owner of Safari restaurant.

Feeding Our Past

Dissecting the call:

Ellison acknowledged knowing the restaurant in the recording, but he says at the time all he knew about what would become the Feeding Our Future scandal was that a judge had ruled against the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) stopping payments to some vendors. He didn’t arrange the meeting and said he didn’t know exactly who he was talking to.

Republicans were skeptical of Ellison’s professed confusion.

“Why do you say now that you didn’t know who he was when he clearly told you who he was, and why are you offering help to these people to work against your client (MDE)?” asked Rep. Patti Anderson, (R-Dellwood).

“What’s the help that these people got?” Ellison said. “No help. I mentioned DHS, and yet they were talking about MDE, so it’s not clear. It wasn’t clear. It’s apparent that in that conversation, it wasn’t clear to me what agency they were even discussing.”

“It should be no surprise that they’re talking about MDE because it’s almost on every page of my transcript: MDE, MDE, MDE,” said Rep. Marion Rarick, (R-Maple Lake).

Ellison said the tape proves a couple of things: He listened to constituents with complaints that would be important to him, but then he told them to put it all in writing.

Bottom line

You can hear it:

And in the end, he didn’t help them, even when they offered campaign contributions.

“Of course, I’m here to help,” he told them in the recording. “But let me be clear. I’m not here because I think it’s going to help my re-election.”

“When offered help in my campaign, I rejected it on the tape,” Ellison told the fraud committee. “You can hear it. I didn’t know I was being recorded. That happened.”

Ellison acknowledged the fraudsters tried to use racism as a shield to not be investigated, but said ultimately, it didn’t work.