Donovan may not have a real "choice" between Chelsea and Everton. If Chelsea is serious, they will outbid Everton and MLS will tell Donovan it'll be a choice between playing for the galaxy or Chelsea. Not necessarily a bad move; Donovan would have a great shot at Champions League play.
Of course he has a "choice". It's his show, he's calling the shots here. I'd rather see him stay at the Galaxy as opposed to going to Chelsea.
first, the chelsea thing is a lot of nonsense. second, to decide against the shot at a CL final match in order to play for the Galaxy for the 7th straight year is ridiculous. third, money is astronomically higher. We arent talking a couple thousand here or there, that bid would be for 5 to 10mm higher to the player. Chelsea play enough tournaments where LD could prove himself. fourth, if he fails, there is always the loan to Everton to consider.
Have you been to Liverpool? It's a mid-sized industrial city with a terrible climate, a handful of interesting buildings and one good museum. Seems like a pretty decent place to be a professional soccer player, but I can't think of too many other reasons to make it one's home. I'll go out on a limb and say our English friends would agree.
Late to the party I realize, but what a great day for Landon yesterday. From a professional standpoint, he's found his home in Everton FC. There is simply no better formula out there for him at the moment. In Everton, he has consistent playing time in top half of the table (potentially top 4) EPL football, a competent coach who has total confidence in him, supporters that adore him, and teammates who he has seemingly befriended quite easily. He is peaking physically and is at the prime of his career considering his age, making timing a critical factor in the decision about his future. He's also nearing that precipice (age-wise) where many, not all, can begin a fairly rapid decline. LD appears to be incredibly fit by most measures, however, and generally has stayed healthy throughout his career. So, it's likely that he has many stellar seasons left in him, albeit with the rapidly approaching age wall. From a professional standpoint, therefore, I think it is imperative that these coming years are spent playing the most competitive football possible as the remaining years are now far more "precious" than they used to be from a football standpoint. If he spends much more time in the MLS, he may be in his 30's before he can make it back to the EPL; where, in such a physically demanding league, success is increasingly rare for 30+ field players. Additionally, he's gone above and beyond any "duty" he has to US soccer, both at the international and club level. Whereas most other US standouts left the MLS at the first opportunity a foreign club showed interest, LD, arguably America's greatest talent, stayed behind for years, sweating it out in an often unrewarding and laborious environment so that he could be the darling of US soccer and carry a league pretty much on his back. At this point, all that would be keeping him from making the move would be personal and/or contract reasons. This is not to downplay those concerns b/c they are important. But there really are no good professional reasons why he doesn't make the move to Everton.
The only "choice" he has is to pick from teams that meet MLS/Galaxy's asking price. If Everton steps up to the plate, he could end up there. If not, he won't.
This is such a false premise it's not even funny. Secondly, I highly doubt any such reports linking Donovan to Chelsea are factual. While a good player, he's not Chelsea material. He'd be an upgrade form Kalou and that's about it. Chelsea is the market for an Aguero, Pato, Di Maria etc. There's nothing he brings that could really add to the value of the team on the playing field. Moreover it would be a bad decision for him to make because he will rot on the bench if any such reports were true.
I tend to agree that he would struggle for playing time, but team sports is littered with examples of lesser players making great teams, greater. I wouldn't pick some of the guys that ManU trots out regularly as belonging on one of the best teams in the world, yet their coach seems to have mastered the art of recognizing the whole is better than the sum of the parts thing. Whether Chelsea management recognizes that or not is another question.
I don't believe in this "not Chelsea material" stuff. While Chelsea might be in the market for Pato, Aguero, Di Maria and Ribery, the first two of those don't play midfield and there's a good chance Ribery is going to Barca. Also, Donovan has already adapted to the PL, which is always a question mark for whoever is coming in from another league, his price tag is comparatively very, very low, and the value of his quickness, game-long running, passing and even finishing is underestimated.
Let's wait until Donovan performs well against a team like Chelsea before we talk about whether he is Chelsea material. Geez.
Chelsea does not use wide midfielders, so there is literally no use for him in the Chelsea midfield - ergo not Chelsea material. Any other position that he plays (wide forward/winger/attacking mid) is being occupied by better players than himself. Also what does Ribery going to Barca have to do with anything?
Did you watch the Everton vs. Chelsea match a few weeks ago or how about the match against Manchester United? I think we've already see Donovan perform well against "a team like Chelsea".
He needs to stay at Everton. It is a club that plays to his athletic strengths/abilities and is a perfect fit for him. Going to an overly tactical and technical team like Chelsea (if it were even true) would ruin his career esp with limited playing time.
There are also reports that Chelsea are after Ribery. I assume that has some relevance. When you say Chelsea doesn't use wide midfielders that's a semantic thing. Surely you're not saying Chelsea doesn't have a use for the kind of running Donovan does. But like his ridiculously good time in Everton, the only thing that will prove this one way or the other is if he actually goes to Chelsea and we see what happens on the field.
I agree. Given how the match went against Chelsea last month, I'd have to assume he is a bit beyond the skill of your average Chelsea winger... who was the motm there again? In all seriousness, it's not hard to figure why a club like Chelsea would be interested in Donovan. He may be short of the Pato's of the world offensively (though I am not enamored of Pato) but the Pato's of the world need someone who can play with them offensively but are willing to cover them defensively. It's not a shock that Chelsea would be looking for someone who can contribute on both sides of the ball along the wing to replace Joe Cole. That being said, obviously if Chelsea has a choice between say Ribbery and Donovan for one position they would take Ribbery. But Donovan may make a very attractive, cost effective fall back. Either way it seems darn stupid to insist that Donovan is only better than Kalou and thus Landon would remain on the bench... when Kalou is the player that would be backing up Landon if he were brought in to replace Cole (much as Kalou has remained on the bench for Cole this year). Not to mention that the actual evidence this year has shown that Donovan indeed has what it takes to get the better of some of the top teams in the premiership (you do realize you are allowed to actually watch the matches and use them in founding an opinion as opposed to just spouting the usual, yes?) That being said, given what we know about Landon and how important it is to him to be comfortable and happy where he is... I would be surprised if he would favor Chelsea over Everton.
You are right. Donovan has never played anywhere but the wing. One has only to look at his last 7 years with the Galaxy to know that no team would ever play him anywhere but out wide in a 4-4-2. I am looking for an emoticon that says you are a moron and I am being sarcastic, but I can't find it. Oh well.
Chelsea has not expressed interest in Ribery for over a year now. Wide midfielders is not a semantic thing. It is a positional thing. Chelsea's systems do not make use of such a position, hence why you see Malouda playing the left side of a diamond or behind the strikers. Sure there is use for his "kind of running", but believe me when I say he will likely get phased out like SWP.
I'll defer to your knowledge of Chelsea, IF it is untinged by Donovan underrating. Same with Ribery, I'm just going by random press reports like this: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...ibery-heads-showdown-talks-Bayern-Munich.html
All this tangential stuff is pretty meaningless. Donovan is a very good player - yes. He is at a team that plays to his God-given abilities. Because he has displayed he can play well against a side, does not mean he can play for that side. Horses for courses and all that. Ibrahimovic shows you that being a good player does not necessarily mean you can fit into a given system. You really need to come to terms with the dynamics of football and stop being a jingoistic idiot. I'm not some highbrow antagonistic Brit against American players if that's what you're thinking because I'm a Yank myself.
ah. Gotcha. Calm down dude, you can't blame him for having the majority opinion where he is. Of course, to make such strong statements, it would behoove you to realize that Donovan has only ever been a true right winger for Everton during the last two months, and has only been a wide midfielder over the last calendar year. That doesn't help you or the discussion at all.