The long and ugly saga that Lukas Podolski's inevitable transfer has become appears to be reaching a conclusion and the outcome could be great news for Landon Donovan.
The U.S. national team star stands poised to take advantage of some more avalable playing time during his loan spell with Bayern Munich now that Podolski is moving closer to a transfer back to FC Cologne, his former club.
With no other acquisitions on the immediate horizon for Bayern, Donovan should now be part of the German club's playing rotation, though a long-term deal to stay with the club seems more unlikely now that Bayern has lined up a summer move for Hamburg's Ivica Olic. That still doesn't mean that Donovan's short loan deal won't be extended beyond March, which remains a possibility, and he could still lead Bayern to make MLS an offer if he has a strong showing during his loan spell.
What do you think about Donovan's chances for playing time now? Could you see him playing a role in Bayern's Champions League campaign? Do you see Bayern making a serious offer to buy Donovan?
Share your thoughts below.
American Kaiser, your fears are answered. Landon is more critical ofhis play. If you read the German newspapers, he said he was bad in front of goal. He also said he is well aware that Al Jazira is not HSV or Stuttgart. He admitted his legs were tired, and he vowed to get better.
I think his head is on straight this time and he’s going to give it all he’s got.
Recent coments indicate that I may be a little to hard on Landon.
First, the blog is about Donovan, not the team. Having said that, the TEAM needs to work on keeping the ball out of their end of the pitch. Careless play led to two opposing goals, one of which was an OG by Van Buyten.
Second, someone indicated that Donovan had a class goal. What game was that in?
Third, I hope Donovan will be more critical of his game than some of us are, b/c he will need to evaluate and improve on every facet of his game before the season begins to be a force to be reckon with in the technical and tough Bundesliga.
I watched the entire game. Donovan did do fine. His touch was fine, just as good as anyone not named Ribery on the team. In fact, Landon fit right in with the team. He certainly played better than Luca Toni.
He got tired in the second half, which is understandable. The 2nd half was disjointed – the subs clearly hadn’t played together and clearly are not the class of the first teamers…except Klose of course. He’s first team all the way and had a class goal.