3. Expansion draft day for United

Fledgling Atlanta United’s roster gets a major infusion of talent today in the MLS expansion draft. And some of the team’s five picks could be homegrown.

There are some big names (Robbie Keane, Didier Drogba), some local names (Chris Duvall, Chris Klute and Jack McInerney) and some intriguing names (Clarence Goodson and Jermaine Jones) available for Atlanta United to select in today’s MLS expansion draft.

But good luck getting Atlanta United President Darren Eales, technical director Carlos Bocanegra or director of soccer operations Paul McDonough to tip their hand as to who they might select when the draft starts at 2 p.m.

“We are pretty open to anything,” Bocanegra said.

The draft will work like this: The league’s 20 teams are allowed to protect 11 players. The remaining players — other than those who are Generation Adidas or homegrown players — are available to be selected by either Atlanta United or Minnesota FC, the two expansion teams that will begin play in 2017.

Once a team loses a player, the rest of its players are pulled back and are not eligible to be selected. The draft will consist of five rounds, so 10 teams will lose just one player.

It would seem natural that Atlanta United might target defenders in the expansion draft.

“We have five picks and we want to get the best we can out of the five picks,” Eales said.

It’s unlikely that Atlanta United would select Keane, a standout with the Los Angeles Galaxy, or Drogba, a standout with Montreal, because they are both at least 36 years old and have already expressed interest in playing elsewhere. Eales has said that he wants to avoid signing players to “dead money” situations in which the players can’t be potentially sold.

With that thinking, local players are interesting.

Duvall, a right back and native of Duluth, started 52 games in three seasons for the Red Bulls. He has a salary of $63,000, which represents good value for a 25-year-old. Plus, he is in a position of need for the club.

Klute is a left back who turned a good season with the Silverbacks in 2011 into an MLS contract with Colorado. The former Clayton State standout was then traded to Columbus, which moved him and McInerney to Portland before the 2016 season. Klute, 26, has started just 16 games the past two seasons and sustained injuries during this season.

He has a combination of size (6-feet-1) and speed that would seem to fit well within Gerardo Martino’s pressing system. He had guaranteed compensation of $91,921.80 in 2016.

McInerney, 24, grew up in Atlanta and has played for four teams since being selected by Philadelphia in the first round of the 2010 draft. He has scored 43 goals in 167 appearances, a solid scoring rate. He had guaranteed compensation of $270,000 in 2016.

Free agency will open at 5 p.m. and the list of players is very small compared to the expansion pool. Atlanta United already has convinced several notable players, including Kenwyne Jones, Miguel Almiron and Hector Villalba — as well as manager Martino — of the franchise’s potential with a new stadium and training center under construction.

Atlanta United also can build its roster with Thursday’s waiver draft and Friday’s re-entry draft.