Landon Donovan Returning to LA Galaxy
- Thread starter Gotham Gator
- Start date
It's Official. Donovan will wear Number 26. Why 26? Well it's the date of his son's birth and his first number at Bayern Leverkusen.
The real reason he's wearing 26? Donovan's entire return will be a campaign for the US to host the 2026 World Cup with Donovan as the head coach.
Arena is desperate because of injuries. I get it, and he's (theoretically) playing within the rules (MLS' LA rules), but in many ways it's a suck it up type situation & coach your way out of it with the roster you assembled.
Here's the kicker though:
They can't have offered LD any more than NdJ's prorated salary ($500k), which is relatively nothing for 6 games left ($88k). And that's really my biggest issue. I doubt LD is turning his back on retirement for only the remainder of this season, that would be absurd on so many levels - he's going to play next year at the very least, if not a few more years. Add to it that MLS does not sign contracts of a year/less nor do they have unbalanced salary structures weighted towards the back end. This suggests they rewrote the rules for LA - either it's now ok to sign to play only a handful of games, or there can be unbalanced contracts (this would change everything for how teams attack the CAP), or there's a new type of DP, or LA has a newly found source of GAM/TAM that MLS has only just informed them of. Any comparisons to NdJ's future DP designation is moot because that was completely predicated on a bonus structure of meeting playing time milestones - LD has all of six games so that milestone would be a slap in the face of fairness. This screams of the yearly rules scramble for LA's benefit.
If anybody has any other theories about his contract, I'd love to hear them, because right now, it all stinks of tomfoolery.
Angela Miller
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You tell umm sweetie!!
Angela Miller
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FredMertz What would Ethel say??
http://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2016/09/08/whats-landon-donovans-schedule-rest-2016-regular-season
Don't know if the LA Galaxy TV schedule has changed but the next three LA games on FS1, FOX, ESPN.
Donovan ratings makes Garber rock a half chub
Don't know if the LA Galaxy TV schedule has changed but the next three LA games on FS1, FOX, ESPN.
Donovan ratings makes Garber rock a half chub
What's good for the goose.... Any recently retired PL players we might want to throw a few buck towards to help us compete in the MLS tournament known as the playoffs? Maybe PV wants to suit up for $100 a match on top of his coaching salary.
Right with JJ and Becks
That was my point. Neither of our dp's sat out almost 2 years.
Ugh. I should've known.
WTF ?!?!? ESPN is reporting that his contract is only through the end of the year. That goes against MLS' stated policy!!! It wouldn't be a normal season if LA didn't get preferential treatment.
Seven
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"Despite Donovan’s desire to see the Galaxy succeed, the American soccer legend is adamant that he did not consider coming out of retirement until seeing the club lose three players to injury in the recent match vs. Vancouver on Aug. 27.
“Not at all,” was Donovan’s emphatic response when asked if he had been feeling the itch to return since retiring after MLS Cup 2014. “I’ve been very content in retirement. I’m happy. I have a beautiful son, a great wife, a great family. I live in San Diego now, so I wasn’t even around this area."
http://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2016/...nning-take-measured-approach-la-galaxy-return
That seems really strange. Just all of a sudden, he decided he wanted to play again?
“Not at all,” was Donovan’s emphatic response when asked if he had been feeling the itch to return since retiring after MLS Cup 2014. “I’ve been very content in retirement. I’m happy. I have a beautiful son, a great wife, a great family. I live in San Diego now, so I wasn’t even around this area."
http://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2016/...nning-take-measured-approach-la-galaxy-return
That seems really strange. Just all of a sudden, he decided he wanted to play again?
The ESPN article made it sound like he's been practicing all week with the team. Also said he was contacted two weeks ago - so he took one week to make the decision & probably both weeks for LA&MLS to write to new 6-game contract bylaw.
Very surprised none of the LA bloggers wouldn't have seen him at practice and tweeted about it prior to the big announcement yesterday.
So what player in the City system do we want for the next 2 months?
What's your source on that policy?
Needs to be someone retired so they are not on a discovery list. PV makes all the sense in the world. World class player. Can give us 20 good minutes a match as a super sub. Knows our system inside and out. Been to all our practices. Give the man a 6 match contract!!!
Edit: and for garber's amusement, puts butts in the seats and will get a lot of people to tune into matches on TV.
Vieira doesn't like Mix so much, he'd come out of retirement to put Mix further down in the depth chart
Nothing formal - just every article that discusses player contracts talks about 2-4 year contracts being standard with option years held by the league. The only way anybody leaves after a year or less is by being transferred out to another club or a loan ends.
