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Monday Kickoff: Galaxy stars in Euro demand, Ferdinand sent death threat and more

Becks:Donovan-Getty

By CALEB SONNELAND

Despite ousting Real Salt Lake at the Home Depot Center on Sunday night, setting up a clash with Houston in the final, the Galaxy stars are already being eyed up abroad. 

Ligue 1 big-spender Paris Saint-Germain has confirmed the idea that it will indeed attempt to bring David Beckham back to Europe as the former International looks to reclaim his place for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Since its takeover in the summer by Qatari Sports Investment, PSG has signed on the likes of Javier Pastore and Kevin Gameiro, and Beckham is being lined up to be its next prize.  PSG president has labeled Beckham "extraordinary" and is "attracted" to the idea of bringing the Englishman to France.

But Beckham isn't the only one with a European suitor.

Everton boss David Moyes revealed that he is, once again, interested in bringing Landon Donovan back to Goodison Park in January — though admittedly only on a loan move.

Donovan enjoyed a successful stint at Everton in January 2010, even landing a "Player of the Month" accolade from the club's fans.  Despite the club hoping to sign Donovan on a permanent basis, the deal was refused and the USMNT star returned in time for the start of the MLS season.

Still, Moyes says he is keen to bring Donovan back. "We could do with some speed and width on the right.

"We will look to see if there is any interest."

Here are some other stories to kick your Monday off:

FERDINAND SENT DEATH THREAT

What started out as an altercation on the field between two players has escalated quickly into something much more serious.

Two weeks after claiming to have been racially abused by John Terry, Queens Park Rangers' Anton Ferdinand has now received a life-threatening letter in the mail following all the controversy.

Ferdinand was the subject of racial abuse via Twitter last week — which he re-tweeted to the public — but now the matter has landed in the Metropolitan Police's lap after the letter arrived by hand at the Sunderland grounds before the weekend.

The defender's family members are believed to have installed security systems at their homes, while Ferdinand has been told to put one in place at his own.  

WILSHERE TO STAY AT ARSENAL "FOREVER"

It's not all doom and gloom for Arsenal these days as teen midfield prodigy Jack Wilshere has asserted his love for the club to a maximum extent.

Wilshere has never made his love for Arsenal a secret, but when asked if he would stay at the club "forever," he responded with, "I promise that, yeah."

Sidelined with an ankle injury since late September, Wilshere is slated to return in December and a partnership in the center of midfield with Mikel Arteta beckons.

Arsenal currently sits in seventh place in the Premier League with a clash at Carrow Road with Norwich next on its plate.

PSV STARLET TO JOIN UNITED

PSV Eindhoven's Andres Pereira has revealed that he will complete a move to Manchester United as soon as the January transfer window opens on the 1st of the New Year.

Only 15, Pereira is tipped as one of the brightest young talents coming up in the sport today, and Sir Alex Ferguson will be eager to mature the attacking midfielder.

A Brazilian-born Belgian, Pereira has been quoted one of the best players in the world for his age.

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Think Beckham and Donovan should and would go?  Should Ferdinand take any further action at this point?  How big of a difference will Wilshere be to have back at Arsenal?

Share your thoughts below…

Comments

  1. You probably have a point on the defensive responsibilities. Maybe he’s just matured as a player minus the whining to the ref he tends to do.

    He’s the best we’ve ever produced but getting older. We’ll see how it goes.

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  2. Who is this kid? – Dr. Evil?

    “Very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low-grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a 15-year-old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet.”

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  3. Did you watch the game last night? Beckham was all over the place! How many players can bend the ball just perfectly from 30 yards and place it right on the forehead of a 5’8 winger, play solid defense, lead by example, make nearly perfect corners and darned good free kicks, while looking good enough to still get the ladies to buy his shirt?

    The guy earned every penny last night.
    One more year (or give us Ronaldinho, Pirlo, Klose, or Jimmy Bullard)!

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  4. I’m sure Moyes is a great coach, but I don’t think he’s been watching Donovan play in the recent past. If he’s expecting the same speed and play that he saw during the first loan he’s unfortunately going to be sadly disappointed.

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  5. would have worked just as well if they just did a straight seeding form the table 1-10, and forget the conferences.. Thats my only real issue with it.

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  6. It certainly worked out well this year. The playoffs held my interest this year mainly because we have some great players to watch on almost every team now. The fan atmosphere has also improved 100%. So much singing and so much intensity, and it carries over to the pitch as well.

    I’d still like to see home-and-home aggregate matches in every round except the finals.

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  7. Well, in the EPL, he can’t just run past guys the way he can in MLS. You also have to be much more defensively responsible on the wing there because the counters are lightning quick. His backtracking play against NYRB to save the goal seems to indicated that he can still burn with the best of them when he wants to. Personally, I’d love to see him give it another go at Everton. He fits in well there and you’re never too old to learn some new tricks.

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  8. Regardless of what some of the crying fans have to say, this MLS Cup is perfect. It’s the two teams playing the best soccer as of right now and its the two power houses in recent years. Throw in the star studded Galaxy and the under appreciated hard working Dynamo and it’s just a great set up – regardless of how it turns out. Playoff haters need to recognize that the current system actually worked and also provided us with the best drama all season (in almost every matchup). Congrats to Galaxy and Dynamo fans.

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  9. Tom,

    I think that is what I see is missing, speed. He doesn’t seem to be able to beat the last man anymore. He seems to stop, and then pass the ball back more now but not make a run in behind after he does so.

    I started noticing at Everton, so maybe it’s something he picked up there?

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  10. Shouldn’t be. The MLS schedule is far less rigorous than the Euros, so he should still have plenty of gas in the tank. All players go through runs of form, so I wouldn’t infer too much from recent play. He was still among the leaders in many offensive categories.

    On the other hand, he IS a guy who relies on his speed so if he does begin to slow down, he will lose a lot of his effectiveness, so you could be right.

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  11. It seems the whole Beckham to MLS experiment didn’t crush his career as so many predicted 5 years ago. He was still able to get several England call-ups

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  12. I was wondering if LD might try Everton again. I would be interested to see him play in the EPL again, especially with Coach K wanting MLS guys to go on loan or training in Europe.

    I also hope LA makes wins the finals in CONCACAF. I could see Becks loving to stay if he can play in London in 2012 during the summer games and has the chance to prove himself in the Club World Cup while staying in LA for another year.

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  13. This is what I stated and if you go back, you can find the entire exchange on that thread, note I’ve only referenced my responses since the exchange would be quite long to repost… If you feel that I may have left out pertinent info from the exchange, definitely repost but my comments as they relate to this and not the Promotion/Relegation portion appears below….

    “…..You’re incredibly clueless about the Beckham PSG deal. It’s alot closer to actually happening that you can imagine…”

    “…The talks have been going on for awhile and last week he met with the decision makers in LA – they flew in from Qatar and the talks have progressed quite a bit. Some places are saying it’s 95% done but as well know it’s not done until someone signs on the dotted lines.

    Why would I not stand by what I said? I also recall making the following statement “…It’s alot closer to actually happening that you can imagine..”. Unlike your remark of “…Neither will happen & both will remain exclusively within MLS…”

    At the very least one would wonder if he’s gonna be here next year since the league hasn’t commented on it nor the Galaxy – at least to the best of my knowledge and this has been in the news for the past few weeks.

    MLS & the Galaxy are usually quick and calculated with a response, so at the very least you’d figure something might be going on….Why would I not be around these boards next year? Because I may be wrong? C’est la Vie, life goes on. If I knew this was a definite deal, you’d have heard about it by now – trust me on that one….”

    “…It’s not an issue of one upping another, the issue is relaying credible info based on something remotely factual other than speculation. Maybe you know more about it than I do and just chose not to cite your source. I didn’t cite my sources, I can and just neglected to do so earlier but there’s quite a bit out there and has been for the past few weeks….”

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  14. If and that’s if LA win the title, then let Beckham and Donovan go. Put Donovan on the market and cash in for what you can. AEG will spend money to get another two dps so that’s not a issue. And let Beckham leave as champ and rebuild. I could see a mid table EPL team taking Donovan. As for the Ferdinand drama, stay classy England.

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  15. Ah, yes… I remember how things lasting “forever” seemed realistic to me when I was 19…

    Well, at least Wilshire’s not saying he’s planning on flying the coop as soon as the latest foreign tycoon waves 20 million pounds in his face. But really, Jack…

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  16. I can see myself getting really tired of “Qatari Sports Investment”/Qatar Foundation/etc., not to mention everything to do with WC 2022 (which Qatar has already been awarded), and the 2020 Summer Olympics (which, of course, Doha is bidding for).

    And the fact that the nation has heretofore produced few, if any, elite athletes in pro soccer or in the Olympic sports scene makes its financial clout in all this stuff even more annoying.

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  17. Waiting for our local PSG fan to proclaim it’s a done deal Becks to PSG.

    Thats what i remember him stating, very clearly, weeks ago.

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  18. Donovan still plays?

    He seems to be in decline to me. He gave everything he had in 2010 and I think it shows now. Hard to come back from that mentally and physically.

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  19. i hope donovan goes and beckham stays. not sure if i have much logic behind that sentiment other than i’d like to donovan ply his trade in england and i’d like to see the g’s not loose too much talent.

    although it’d be nice for LA to retain as much of this group as possible. it’d give ’em a legit shot at the champions league.

    Reply

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