Exactly. I think he's a level-headed enough guy, to repay us in kind, if we have the money. When things are working why change it? I'd be very disappointed in him if a similar offer came in from say Chelsea or someone and he accepted their offer rather than ours. Them sort of deals always seem too much too soon and a lot of their fans are very fickle and if LD didn't produce right away he'd be out. Whereas he has the luxury of having a few bad games here knowing that our fans wouldn't turn on him or any other player in our squad. Ditto. I'll never forget how lightly Yakubu took his penalty against Fiorentina. Just waltzed up there half assed and hit the post. Baines rather reminds me of Unsworth with penos. Just drills 'em hard into a corner. Saha's penalty was rubbish, he hit it down the middle at a nice height for Cech, who's hard enough to beat at the best of times. Real English fans who say the game will not blame Donovan. He was completely at liberty to go for the ball he went in fairly and had his foot at the same height as Cole. There was contact for sure, but a clash of feet is all, I've heard of players injured from a clash of heads but feet...? Nowt wrong with it though. Just hope Cole recovers quickly.
By your logic, we should sell 10 year-olds for $100+ million then. 2010 Donovan > 2010 Altidore That is the primary factor. Plus LD is under contract for like 5 more years, so that would be very attractive to any buyer. What you're missing is that LD has performed for years and years. He was the best US player at the '02 World Cup (not Reyna). He has been an all-star in MLS since his first season. He has helped his teams win lots and lots of hardware. He set the goal-scoring record for the US when he was just 25 or so. It's only Euro-snobbery which says that these things don't count b/c they weren't done in the Prem. Jozy hasn't done much at all compared to Landon. No titles, very little as a full international. Jozy is all about potential still.
There will be few that say that, but it is expected. Every team has its share of numb-nuts following it. As I recall, after the WC draw, US several posters were concerned about US players getting either A. benched or B. purposely persecuted on the pitch looking to hurt them. Donovan went for the challenge and won. That's the game. I doubt the core of English supporters will think it was malicious in anyway.
Yeah, this is worrisome. The one thing that might help here is if AEG sells LD to a club like Everton (hopefully), with a strong sell-on clause. That way, Everton can get him for less than his full value, and if they end up selling him down the road to a Man City for 3 times what they paid, AEG could still reap financial benefits; otherwise, there won't be much incentive to AEG to sell Landon short of his true market value. So maybe Everton could pick him up for ~$7 mil US with a 50/50 split on future sales. Might that be affordable for EFC?
Generally agree with your sentiment, but LD's current contract is irrelevant. When a player transfers, their current contract is voided, and they negotiate a new contract with the team their transferring to. Transfer does not equal trade for cash.
When Moyes passed on the loan option on McBride, other teams joined the hunt and Mac went to Fulham. If Moyes passes now, there is a very good chance that someone else will bid substantially more and Everton will be SOL. I like Landon at Everton, but to be realistic, if Everton passes on a transfer now, the chance of getting Landon goes down a lot.
You can do better than a strawman no? Look, I get it Landon's built quite a resume. Fact is though you are only looking at the positive on the resume and not the negative. When it comes time to do business, and Big Club in Europe is negotiating with MLS, and MLS goes with the Altidore sold for $10M, therefore LD should go for $16M, big club's reply is going to be Altidore isn't 27 and Altidore hasn't flamed out of Germany a few times. I hope it works out and Donovan is playing for a big competitive club for the next 5-6 years of his career, I just know how business works, especially in this economy. I just think everyone should curb their expectations a bit. Donovan is a very good valuable player. But to think top teams are going to break the bank for him it's a bit naive. I think you're more likely to get a mid-table club roll the dice in hoping he can keep them up. West Ham for instance paid 7.5 million Euro's for Craig Bellamy in July 07, prior to the economy tanking. Bellamy and Donovan are similar players, similar size, similar blazing speed, and this summer LD will be the same age Bellamy was in the summer of 07. Bellamy has had some discipline issues, but his talent and resume for creating goals are stellar. I'm thinking if it happens it will be a team who just barely stayed up, like West Ham if they do stay up, and it will be for 6-8 million euro's. Whether MLS is willing to accept that or not is the only question. Also, I'm not sure that would be a good move for him. He shouldn't go someplace where he's the best player on the team. Everton is a good fit, because he's a key contributor, and there are players around him who make him look good, just as he does for the players around him. (excluding Phil Neville, he's a disaster).
Fair enough, but Bellamy is not an all-around player is he? I will admit I haven't watched him a whole lot, but comparatively I think Landon is much more versatile position-wise, less prone to scoring droughts, and his fitness/almost spotless injury record are all major considerations. He's also very loyal to his team and a hard worker. If Landon were European, his market value would be 1.5x to 2x what it is now, IMHO. Hell, if he were English he might be worth even more (in the Prem).
Yeah, and not to mention, I really think Saha works well with Donovan too - "ignoring" or "failing to see" him on the counters notwithstanding. LD is always looking to get him the ball in dangerous spots and when Saha comes out wide, he's looking to team up with LD as well.
My point was that there are a lot more considerations when valuing players than just age. Only looking at someone's age would be absurd.
hate to be a pest, but anyone know of a torrent for this match? my dvr recorded the liverpool match twice instead of the chelsea match. bastard.
to be fair, every mention of the tackle has been followed by the words; "clearly no intent to harm" or "fair." of course you're right, some idiots will decide it was intentional, but that's football
On another note, Yanks seem to love playing against Chelsea. Dempsey of course had his memorably 2-goal game, one that many consider his "arrival point" in the EPL. Jozy helped Hull pull out an unlikely draw. And Donovan with an assist and a penalty drawn (and of course that doesn't do justice to the display he put on). McBride had a goal against them a few years back, as well.
i find it consistently amazing that really class strikers suck at pks. no idea why that is, but you see it more than you'd think possible. Usually, a club has a group of players who will fight among themselves for the kick. I'd assume Saha was in that group, but it didn't look as if anyone really argued with him for the ball. I mean, LD could have taken it, loan or not, a goal is a goal and he's money on pks, but no one is going to ask him to take the kick.
Not sure I completly agree with you on Bellamy, but the fact is Bellamy had 181 Premiership games and 54 Premiership goals when he went West Ham.Donovan has only 5 Premiership games 1 Premiership goal. When you're talking about consistency you're talking about Bellamy in the Premiership vs Donovan in the MLS. Nothing to do with Donovan's antionailty, more to do with the fact he's been playing in a comaprtively lesser league for most of his career, plus anyway I don't his performance quite warrants Everton paying for him say what they paid for Fellaini (which their record transfer fee).
Is he really? I mean, he blew the PK in the MLS final a few months ago as well as that one all over youtube vs Mex when he spent 5 minutes kissing his wrists and his fists. Not trying to start something, but not sure everyone would agree on "he's money on PKs". John Terry on the other hand...
Rimando didn't put a finger on it in the MLS final. Donovan just blew it. Bad. That one notwithstanding, he's a clutch pk taker and if I were his manager, I'd gladly put him at the spot.
Personally, I blame Bill Simmons, who a few days earlier had a 10 minute conversation about what makes him such a good PK taker.
I'm not quite sure what you're referring to here. To my knowledge, he has NEVER missed a PK versus Mexico.
1) It's not "the" MLS. 2) Landon's not a forward, but Bellamy is, no? I would certainly hope a forward would have a higher strike rate than a midfielder. Landon's already drawn 2 PK's and earned several assists to go with his one goal in 5 Prem matches. 3) Bellamy was never Player of the Year for the Prem was he? Donovan is. He's also the 6-time Player of the Year for the US or something like that. I'm not saying Bellamy isn't really good, just that it's hard to compare one performance to another just by saying "well, it doesn't count for much 'cause it wasn't the Premiere League." I agree that most EPL managers will think that way though. 4) Just b/c Everton might not be willing to pay LD's market value doesn't mean that LD is worth less.