Landon Donovan has seen plenty of success in England, but should he come home now? (Getty Images)

Part of me wants Landon Donovan to stay in England. The other part of me wants him back here in the US with the LA Galaxy. Thing is I cannot for the life of me decide which is the right one to go with.

Its a rough dilemma to be in for Donovan. He wants to stay on with Everton just a little bit longer but we know LA manager Bruce Arena has said no a few times to the press recently.

“It was kind of like in that movie ‘Dumb and Dumber’, where the man says that there is a chance, it’s just one in a million,” said Arena. The Galaxy coach, who has remained in frequent contact with the midfielder throughout his loan, did not appear concerned about the comments.

“There is always a chance, it may be one in a million, but there is always a chance.”

Yeah a chance, a very small one but one nonetheless. Continue Reading…

The Galaxy could actually be better in 2010 than what they were in 2009. (Getty Images)

We’re a little over half way home in our look at each Major League Soccer club this winter. So far we’ve hammered out Chicago, Colorado, Chivas, Columbus, DC, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, and Philadelphia in out preseason look ins.

So far this winter the LA Galaxy have had a similar offseason that we expected them to have. David Beckham went to Italy to be with AC Milan and Landon Donovan went to England to play for Everton until March. We knew going into the winter months that those things would happen. Unlike last year when there was a lot of bad press about loan moves for Beckham, this year was a little smoother for the two sides.

Aside from that Bruce Arena has made a couple moves since then and even with one draft pick back in January at the SuperDraft he came away with a solid draft grade by me and most people.

Let’s see how the Galaxy are looking right now and what else they need to do to their roster before the season kicks off.

Continue Reading…

It was a deal that we saw coming for the last couple week and now it is official. Everton FC formally announced the completion of the Landon Donovan loan move on Friday, clearing the way for him to make his 10-week stay with the English Premier League side.

Donovan will join fellow US National Team member Tim Howard with the Toffees after the New Year, pending acceptance of his UK work permit application. Given the amount of time Donovan gets with the national team clearing a work permit shouldn’t be an issue at all.

The 10-week loan is pretty short though and I have to wonder exactly how much impact Donovan will be able to make with Everton. But judging by the schedule after the New Year for Everton, Donovan could face a number of top clubs like Manchester United, Liverpool, and Chelsea.

What do you make of Donovan’s chances with Everton? Think he’ll make a big enough impact or will he ride on the bench the majority of the time?

Nothing like a little late night TV, last night David Beckham was on one of those late shows. Which one? The one on TBS. I know you’re asking, “there’s a late show on TBS? Who’s the host?” Well it’s George Lopez.

Hat tip to SF at The Offside Rules for the video.

Donovan gets a new deal and a loan to Everton.

We knew going into the day that the LA Galaxy would be making some sort of “major” announcement regarding Landon Donovan. It was pretty easy to guess that Donovan was in the works to get a loan deal to EPL side Everton.

Well that deal was announced today along with Donovan signing a four-year extension with the club. The money side of things wasn’t announced but some believe it is a “DP-level” contract, of course without actually being a DP. Of course we all know Donovan’s contract was grandfathered in terms of not being a DP back when the league started the DP program since he was already making above the league maximum.

Donovan’s loan deal to Everton won’t be a long one though as it is for just a short 10-weeks from January to mid-March. Yes that also means Donovan will be back in a Galaxy jersey for the First Kick next year.

That is good and bad if you ask me. I like that Donovan signed a new deal with the league because I’d rather see him here right now than anywhere else but at the same time I think a short loan like that is kind of weak. I’m not saying give him a David Beckham style loan for six months or anything but 10 weeks just doesn’t seem long enough for Donovan to do anything of note with Everton.

I also kind of see this new deal for Donovan as a starter for how the league could be starting to handle it’s star players. We already know they are working on keeping Stuart Holden with a big time raise and signing Donovan like this just tells me the league is slowly starting to get serious about it’s stars here. They realize they have to keep at least some of them to market to the fans out there.

Donovan is the face of the league right now and it was wise to give him a little boost in pay. Hopefully it just means more of the same to come for the rest of the players in the league with a new CBA. But we’ll see won’t we?

What do you make of Donovan’s new deal? And the loan to Everton?

Could we see Landon Donovan in the EPL next month? (Getty Images)

A lot has been said last night and today about Landon Donovan’s potential loan move across the pond this winter. First it was a possible move down south to Club America in Mexico but now it seems to be a loan to EPL side Everton.

He wouldn’t be available until January 1, so Everton fans who would love to see their offense get a bit of a boost by someone like Donovan will have to wait it out another couple weeks. Everton is currently 15th in the EPL table, just three spots from the drop zone. So a move for someone like Donovan is definitely needed at this point in the season.

We all deep down, whether we actually like Landon or not want to see him do well no matter where he is at. Steve Davis brought up an interesting point earlier though about Donovan and his past struggles across the pond. Davis said had he just toughed it out over there back when he was in Germany he possibly wouldn’t be the same Donovan we know today. He may even be more like Eddie Johnson, or Freddy Adu, or any number of US stars that “had” to go to Europe only to just sit on the bench and watch their careers slip away from them.

Donovan is no longer that smug teenager that we hated a while back. His career is on track and a move back to Europe is a good fit for him now, more than ever.

And that’s why a loan makes the most sense here, even if it means he could return by say April or May to Major League Soccer. Who knows how long exactly Donovan would be used by Everton. Remember last year when he went to Bayern Munich he saw some PT early on then to only see his time on the bench grow more until the loan expired. Let him get some time over in England and bring him home in time for the World Cup sounds like a good deal to me even if going to the EPL isn’t my first choice for him. I still think he is a better fit in leagues like Germany or Italy (but that is probably just my feeling).

So he’s 50/50 on a transfer out of MLS this winter. He sounds like he is trying once again to leave MLS but I may be one that just doesn’t buy it.