FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – A trio of signings within the past nine days has brought the New England Revolution roster up to 20 players with the start of preseason inching closer, and there’s more to come as the team continues to evolve ahead of Brad Friedel’s first season in charge.

The Revs have already added pieces on the backline (Gabriel Somi), central midfield (Wilfried Zahibo) and in the attack (Isaac Angking), but they still have plenty of flexibility after parting ways with some significant names this offseason.

“We had some hard decisions to make … on some players, frankly, on some higher salaries,” General Manager Michael Burns said about moving on from players like Kei Kamara and Benjamin Angoua. “But we needed that flexibility to enhance and make our team better.

“We still have some roster spots to fill out, and we will do that … We’ve been very careful, and we’re trying to be as smart as possible in terms of players that we’re adding and positions that we’re adding.”

Burns said the Revs will decide whether to extend preseason invites to trialists in the coming weeks, and those decisions will depend on any other moves that may materialize in the interim.

“It depends on signings and how the draft goes over the next couple weeks before we’ll make final decisions on extending invitations for trialists,” said Burns. “We may or may not go down that path depending on what other signings might take place between now and then.”

The recent arrivals of Angking, Somi and Zahibo have bolstered the squad at some key positions, but that only represents the start of New England’s acquisitions for 2018.

“We’ll continue to fill out the roster based on our needs,” said Burns. “We’ve made some progress. We still have some more work to do, though.”