Also of all the teams willing to meet MLS' asking price America would have come pretty damn close if Donovan wanted to leave.
But they said no? MLS really doesn't have a choice. They can point to the contract all they want but if a player does not want to be there then they really don't have a choice but to let him go. Contracts in football mean nothing just look at what goes on every summer window. When was Ronaldo's Contract up? 2012 I think. And is he still at United? It is true that MLS is a bit different than other leagues because not every player has the power to force a move. But it just so happens that Donovan is one of those few players in MLS that has the power to do whatever the ******** he wants. The thing I get from this is that Donovan doesn't want to leave badly enough.
Quote of the day. He's getting $9 million over 4 years. So sorry he couldn't fulfill your fantasies. This Galaxy fan is going to try to enjoy his career while it lasts, wherever he ends up.
Yeah, maybe not. But from what all I'm gathering, there were no offers to buy and all he has is 3 month loan offers. But as you said, contracts in football mean nothing. So if Landon performs well at Everton and at World Cup...why does signing this new contract now preclude him from being sold then? Best I can see, it doesn't. So he could have not signed and been paid at a rate of 900,000 over a year or sign and be paid at a rate of 2.25 million over a year...with the same necessity of performing well in order to get a transfer. But I'm probably being naive about the whole thing. I don't get the intricacies of contracts.
From purely a soccer perspective, I dont think anyone can deny Donovan came back from the BM spell a heck of a lot better player. He was challenging for balls, making better runs off the ball and in general learning to control the game better. Stepping up and roaming when he needed to. Imagine 5 years of that kind of training on this player? He would have been tremendous instead of in my mind, unfinished. Anyway, 9mm plus whatever loan fees is a pretty sweet take home. More money than most people will make, but it certainly doesnt touch the 50mm euro or pound level that some players get.
I personally would love to see Donovan take his Magic Otter penalties in Europe. Can you imagine a match say against the Rangers or Hamburg? They would uhm, pelt him with all kinds of things.
But when players recently sign new contracts they don't get up and leave just in 6 months or a year. That's the issue. But it is funny how I he kept saying yesterday in an interview in on ESPN Deportes where he could still go to Europe or Mexico by the end of his new deal. Who does he think he is? Who is going to gamble on a 31 year old American in Europe? Or you could read between the lines and think he just signed the new deal for the improved salary and that he will leave after the WC. But I doubt it.
Signing for 9 mil plus, and also getting to be loaned to EPL with a possible chance of some team buying his contract after world cup and playing a game he loves for crazy money, and people are dissappointed ????? Hahahahahahaha It's not about YOU ! It's his life. Enjoy watching him play, wherever he plays. He has already shown that he can play with better teams, he has nothing to prove. I'm jealous too !!!!!
If you know something that we don't please enlighten us. If not, then I'd say it's a fair bet that unless Barca or Real offer him a contract, and will pay MLS's typical bloated asking price, then he'll be back with LA after his loan spell is over.
He could have a buy out clause in his new contract. Ya never know. But who cares? Donovan's got his well deserved payday. I don't care who it comes from as long as he's happy and playing well the USMNT.
According to my secret source GOOGLE he signed a multi-year extension with Columbus after the 2002 season, was loaned out to Everton for part of 2003 and was sold to Fulham after the 2003 season with Columbus -- so yeah, pretty much.
Something pretty cool about this Everton side is that there are a lot of connections to YA's beyond Tim Howard. -Yobo, Hibbert, Turner, and Osman have been at the club since McBride and Moore were there. -Distin was at Manchester City back when Reyna and Beasley were there. -Lucas Neill played with Spector at West Ham and with Friedel at Blackburn. -Heitinga and Pienaar played with John O'Brien at Ajax. -Neville played in a couple matches with Spector at Man United. -Fellaini played with Onyewu at Standard Liege. -Saha was at Fulham when McBride and Bocanegra were there; also at Man United when Spector was there. I'm hard pressed right now to think of another club in Europe with as many outside YA connections.
You know...I'm happy for Landon that he's getting a few months in England, and I think he'll come back a better player yet again... Still... Was anyone besides me dreaming about Landon's first trip to Guadalajara as a member of Club America? THAT...would have been must-see TV!
imagine a job you LOVE at a great salary in a place you love in an environment that in the past year became a great deal better than it had ever been. now imagine your boss offers to pay you more than double to keep doing it and provides you 4 years of guaranteed payment. sounds pretty sweet, doesn't it?