Photo by ISIphotos.com
The loan deal everybody knew about, but had yet to be acknowledged by the player's own team, was finally made official on Monday as the LA Galaxy finally made official confirmation of Landon Donovan's loan move to Bayern Munich.
Yes, Donovan had already been in Dubai with Bayern Munich for some time, and there had been multiple reports about the move (including an interview with Donovan), but the Galaxy went all Tariq Aziz and waited until well after the deal was done to actually acknowledge the obvious.
So now that we can stop pretending that the deal isn't done, it's time to start thinking about what could come from Donovan's brief loan spell, which will last nine weeks (unless it becomes a permanent move, which isn't completely out of the realm of possibility despite what the Galaxy will insist).
Bayern Munich returns to Bundesliga action on Jan. 30 against Hamburg, the first of six league games the club has scheduled during Donovan's loan, which is set to end on March 8th.
Do you think Donovan can make an impact in that short amount of time? Think he can impress Bayern enough to get the German champions to loosen the purse strings and make MLS a good offer? Think Donovan will struggle to play, let alone make an impact?
Share your thoughts below.
Worst Case: He gets sub minutes, cracks the starting 11 once or twice and fails to impress, and is sent back to LA to try and duplicate his stellar season.
Best Case: He gets sub minutes early and scores a couple of goals. His form in training keeps improving and he cracks the starting 11 next to Toni on a semi-regular basis, which earns him a long term deal. Next season, either Miro or Luca are sold.
Prediction: He will get in early and start off very well. He’ll be lively and his fresh legs late in matches will make defenders look silly. He’ll be come a fan favorite, but still won’t crack the starting 11 on anything more than a sporadic basis until very late in the loan window. He will earn his stay and contract, and Jeurgen will sell off Miro or Toni (probably Luca, either to ACM or Inter, since his value will be highest), making whoever stays and Donovan his 1-2 at the top (Landon being the supporter of course) with Olic to challenge both for playing time.
How does that Stones song go?
I hope Donovan gets game time with Bayern Munich, and I hope he is on fire when he does, and impresses.
Ultimately I don’t think he’ll join Bayern, as someone else said, I don’t see him generating sufficient demand for his services in the time given to justify the MLS’ price tag. Phoey on the MLS, it would be good for the MLS to have some of its players go overseas and make an impact. it would help build the MLS reputation and brand.
So no Bayern gig, but I could think of a number of other teams that could really use him. You can’t always get what you want but if you try sometimes you get what you need.
How about Landon joining one of the EPL teams struggling to stay out of relegation? I’d put him on Sunderland as I think he could be outstanding playing behind Cisse’, using his pace on the counter. and wouldn’t that be a fun striker to pair with?
Making an impact in the EPL would be a big deal and if that were not enough it could open more doors elsewhere in time.
On the other hand if he can get the job pairing with Luca Toni at Bayern, wouldn’t that be something!
Donovan, you go, son!