Milan Iloski’s on-field role has changed. How much will it benefit him and the Union?

Milan Iloski had no strong opinion.

If he did, he certainly wasn’t sharing it on this day, doubling as a model for the Union’s new home kit, one that pays homage to America’s 250th birthday and coincides with the FIFA World Cup passing through Philadelphia this summer.

But the question last month was plain. As the Union’s new No. 10, the number generally designated for a team’s playmaker, how does it suit his strengths, and more importantly, his role on the team?

Will the move create opportunities for his partners sitting behind the forward in Bradley Carnell’s modified 4-4-2 (essentially 4-2-2-2) formation? Will it create chances for him running off them? Which would make sense given the imposing size of Ezekiel Alladoh, the team’s new 6-foot-3, 170-pound powerhouse up top?

Will it be both?

Some might suggest that two games into the regular season and a handful of televised preseason matches are still too small a sample size to determine where Iloski exactly fits and where he’ll be most effective. In that same time, however, credit him with four goals and a Man-of-the-Match award after a 5-0 rout of Trinidad’s Defence Force in the club’s Concacaf Champions Cup opener.

It is certainly not a bad thing to be a bit of an unknown for a team looking to surprise early in the season in defense of its 2025 Supporters’ Shield crown.

That continues this week as the Union have their Champions Cup return leg against Defence Force at Subaru Park on Thursday (7 p.m., FS2), followed by the team’s MLS home opener against Eastern Conference rival New York City FC on Sunday (4:30 p.m., Apple TV).

If that’s the case, one has to wonder what the coaching staff has told Iloski it’s looking for from him in the No. 10 jersey.

“I think stepping up in a big way,” said Iloski, a 26-year-old native of California. “I was brought here midseason last year to help bring a trophy. And you know, we were happy to win the Supporters’ Shield, but we fell short in other places. Now, it’s for me to be an important player on the team and really be a leader in the locker room and make sure to implement those core values and, you know, things that this club stands for.”

But the answer was a bit more complex from Carnell, who noted during a recent news conference the variety of ways Iloski can be used, with none of them sounding like a one-size-fits-all approach to the second-year Union player.

“We have a bunch of things drawn up in my [coaches] room,” the manager said. “There are different scenarios on tactical sheets of paper. We have an overload of strikers with us right now. So [we just need] Milan to build his foundation, I would say.

“We know what he brought us last year, through the summer [when he arrived] and down the stretch. He’s a real weapon in both phases, whether it’s in the possession phase or in the transition phase. … He has a bunch of things to learn even in the [No. 10] spot. But using him in the striker spot is an option as well. Right now, he’s being used in that 10 spot, and we’re confident we’ll get greater value out of him there.”

It’s no secret that Iloski provides value. His eight goals in a five-game tear for San Diego last season made him a midseason commodity that the Union pounced on. He collected four goals and five assists in just 14 games for the Union in all competitions, drilling home the fact that he’s anything but one-dimensional.

But a shift in position means a shift in mindset, and at the end of the day, Iloski is happiest around the box angling on goal. Proof came in the five shots, two on goal, from the Union’s loss to D.C. United on Saturday. It also arrived in a preseason wonder goal he scored running off the ball against CF Montréal.

It’s where he likes to be, his happy place if you will.

“I think in an ideal world, I enjoy being around the goal more,” Iloski said. “I came here because I enjoyed playing next to someone, that’s one thing I’ve talked with the coaching staff a lot about. I love playing next to someone up top.”

But that’s not his role anymore — at least not game over game. Which is why in the same breath, the leadership he spoke of earlier came through.

“I also know I can be that creative player who can come inside or can float underneath the strikers,” he said. “So, you know, for me, I’m open to anything that can help the team. And you know, I’m totally bought in. So whatever the staff needs from me is what I’ll try and provide.”