It was Dec. 3 when Celtic officially announced Wilfried Nancy as the club’s next manager. About two weeks before that date, the Columbus Crew learned of Nancy’s desire to move on and try his luck coaching in Europe.

Since then, the Crew has hired its next head coach, appointing Henrik Rydström to the role on New Year’s Eve. Yet nearly two weeks later, with players reporting back and the preseason underway, Rydström is still not in Columbus.

Asked about not having the man selected to lead the team heading into the 2026 season, general manager Issa Tall was relaxed, saying that Rydström missing the start of the preseason is essentially the price of hiring a foreign head coach.

“It’s how it had to play out,” Tall said on Tuesday. “And I think we weren’t too slow and we weren’t too quick either. I think the process started late (after Nancy left), but we were ready. Thank God we were ready in our succession planning. And also that we went through the process three years ago between (technical director) Marc (Nicholls) and myself.

“I think it took the time that it needed to take. And ultimately, if we were not confident in Henrik, for example, and we weren’t sure, we would have still waited, I believe, because the biggest mistake would have been for us to just say, ‘Okay, let’s take this guy because we need somebody,’ and rush.”

However, there is only so much the player or club can do. As with foreign players coming to MLS, coaches must obtain work visas, which is a process.

“To make it simple, first, you need a contract, a signed contract,” Tall explained of getting a visa. “From there, you apply for a work visa. So you apply. It takes three days to get a notice. Then once you get the notice, you’re just waiting for the actual work permit. Once you get the work permit, you apply for an appointment to an embassy. Then once you have that appointment, you go and interview essentially, leave your passport. Then you have to wait to get your passport back. And only then, when you have your visa and your passport, can you travel. 

“The tricky thing is sometimes it’s depending on so many things, administrations, holidays and all these things. It can take total three weeks. Sometimes it can be expedited to two weeks. And sometimes it can take much longer to five weeks. And we’ve experienced that. So that’s why it’s always annoying to me because whether it’s to you, to ownership, even to players and staff, it’s hard to give a precise date.”

The Crew, not just Tall, believes the club has hired the right person to replace Nancy, and any delay in Rydström’s arrival will be worth it. 

After playing professionally for nearly a quarter century, Rydström began his coaching career as an assistant at Kalmar FF in 2016. He became manager of IK Sirius in 2019 and stayed with the club until returning to Kalmar as manager in 2021. He was hired to take over Malmö FF in 2022, leading the club to two league titles and the Swedish Cup. 

During his 10 seasons as a manager, Rydström has defied typical tactical conventions in soccer. Like many clubs, he wants his players to use space, but instead of spreading out when on the ball, Rydström prefers heavy overloads and getting more players around the ball. 

While there will be clear differences for fans at Scotts-MiracleGro Field this season, the core philosophy of Black & Gold soccer remains unchanged. Maintaining that identity was important to those involved in the hiring process.

“Fans shouldn’t expect much difference in terms of being proactive, being on the ball, being in control, building out of the back,” Tall explained. “So don’t expect us to all of a sudden change our style of play dramatically. What you can expect as maybe being different is a lot of tactical nuances, but also being more direct in attacking the box, in creating chances, in pressing with more intensity. But ultimately, what I’d like to tell the fans is just expect the Crew.”

Since Gregg Berhalter was hired as manager ahead of the 2014 MLS season, Columbus has been a possession-heavy team that looks to attack and entertain. While altered under Caleb Porter, that DNA remained the same and was built upon by Nancy.

The Crew’s former head coach asked the players to take greater responsibility for possession and build-up, requiring them to hold the ball, invite pressure and then play out of it to find space behind. This was not an easy style to learn, but the idea of being comfortable in the uncomfortable was a reason for the best three-year run in club history under Nancy.

That comfort in being asked to do things differently from what most players are taught will serve the Black & Gold well in learning Rydström’s system.

“I think with the history we have of being uncomfortable is beneficial to us,” midfielder/defender Sean Zawadzki said. “It’s different if you’re always so regimented in what you do and now having a coach like him come in and being comfortable with the uncomfortable and having the history of that, it gives us a little jump on everyone, I would say. And won’t make that transition period as hard, I would say.”

In the day since he was named the ninth head coach in Crew history, Rydström has taken time to get to know his players. Having already gained some familiarity with the Black & Gold from watching past Columbus teams, Rydström wanted to speak with his players as quickly as possible, in addition to his regular conversations with Tall.

“With me, it’s been a daily communication,” the general manager said. “I mean, multiple times a day, we get on the phone, sometimes it’s half an hour, sometimes it’s two hours, sometimes it’s just a quick 10 minutes. But we chat quite often. And he talked to all the players or at least the majority of them. So he made the effort of trying to connect with them, whether it’s just a quick hello or just knowing to get to know them more, just because obviously he’s not here today.”

According to Tall, Rydström should join the Crew next week during the team’s preseason camp in Clearwater, Florida. However, club officials are working to expedite the process as much as possible, and sources tell Massive Report that there’s optimism Rydström could be on a plane to the United States by this weekend.

While the early preseason sessions focus on conditioning and testing after the offseason, they often include tactical elements. Laurent Courtois, who guided Crew 2 to an MLS NEXT Pro Cup in 2022 and served as head coach of CF Montreal in 2024 and at the start of the 2025 season, will lead the group’s sessions until Rydström arrives.

“Laurent’s been at our club before. He was a head coach in the league, so we’re super confident and the players are also as well, and are bought in,” Tall said. “He’s running sessions that Henrik is putting in place, so it’s easy, to be honest. It’s not been an adjustment for our players.”

Tall, Nicholls and others involved knew they were making an important decision in hiring Rydström. They were also aware of the shortened timeframe, having begun the offseason with the Frenchman still in his role. 

With an eye not just on the start of the 2026 season but on success beyond, the Crew wanted to make sure they got their guy. Rydström was that guy, something Tall believes will bear out once he arrives in Columbus. 

“We were able to run a very diligent and calculated process where we took our time,” he said. “Obviously it was time crunched, but at the same time, we didn’t want to rush. We wanted to get the right person because that role is so important. It influences more than just the 11 players on the field. It does have an impact on, maybe I’m overdramatic, but on a city. We’d like our players, our staff, our fans and our city as a whole to rally behind that course. So we believe we found that in Henrik.”