Landon Donovan is yet to see any game action since joining Liga MX’s Club Leon, but that may be changing soon.
Leon’s manager Gustavo Diaz spoke about the American legend at a press conference and suggested he may see the pitch as soon as next week.
#Conferencia 🎙
“Todos tenemos ganas de que Donovan ya esté en la cancha, nos viene un calendario duro y ajustado, pero no nos vamos a precipitar. Seguramente la próxima semana ya lo estaremos viendo.” @ChavodiazDT pic.twitter.com/OZn8S4eWCH— Club León 🇲🇽 (@clubleonfc) January 31, 2018
“We all feel like Donovan is ready on the pitch, we have a hard and tight schedule, but we’re not going to rush. Surely next week we will be seeing him,” he said.
Leon will take on Monterey on Saturday, which begins a run of four matches in 11 days, including three matches in the league.
Donovan also feels he is close to getting into the game.
“I’m feeling good, it’s the coach’s decision if I travel to Monterrey or not, but I’m improving every day and, if it is a possibility, I’ll be ready because I want to give something back to the people on the pitch,” he said on Monday.
Leon has two wins and a draw from their first four matches of the 2018 Clausura season.
please make it stop? he’s 35 and the competition in concacaf is tougher than before. i’m afraid our captain is making a big mistake.
I lament Donovan’s “mental deficiencies” because I am a true believer in his talent and it seems to be me that he may have figured it out by now. He was the first American player to have the talent to be a world class player (an American Iniesta) but didn’t because he couldn’t pull it all together mentally until it was too late. The kinder way to say this is that he wasn’t interested in trying to be a top player in the world and preferred to stay in America where he was more comfortable and wanted to help MLS succeed. Thats fine for him as a personal decision, but as a soccer fan, I wanted him to play with the best week in and week out. Who wouldn’t want someone to reach there full potential?
Rob Kissinger, ladies and gentlemen.
“An American Iniesta” is actually not a bad description for Donovan. Was he as good as Iniesta? No, but their playing styles were very similar. Both true #10’s, more interested in making a team’s offense tick than simply needing to be the guy who scored. Hence his all-time assists records (both MLS and US) to go with his all-time goals records (both MLS and US). Very Iniesta.
I’m not sure what mental deficiencies Kissinger is talking about. So things didn’t work out when he was a kid at Leverkusen. So what? There’s plenty of young superstars who don’t thrive in their first overseas gig. He crushed it at Everton just five years after “failing” at Leverkusen.
If Donovan had a flaw, it was simply that he was born in the wrong country; if he’d been born in Spain or Argentina he’d have had the fortune of pairing his immense talent with a much higher level of developmental competition, and who knows, maybe they’d have been referring to Iniesta as “the Spanish Landon.”
Hot take!
Was always a big critic of LD as I saw a lot of wasted potential due to his mental difficiences. But I love this move. I truly hope he is able to put in some meaningful minutes and enjoys it. The guy retired young and still has some left in the tank if he is fully committed imo. Will be watching for sure!
Here’s a guy, your average every day moron, sitting at his computer and lamenting Landon Donovan’s “mental deficiencies” but, to everyone’s relief, going on to root for him. You show me this individual, and I will show you a flat out loser, and a moron
Keep winning, M keeping…
hey, hey, no hate in here M. Please respect our duality, of having a critical look and being an unadulterated supporter, of being hopeful and cautious, of being brown and white. We’re all just good hombres in here. If not, jump into (and across) the ocean!
I hope this works out for him. Huge LD fan
Leon v Monterrey with Donovan playing would be must see TV.
How much is he making? Probably as good an indicator as any on how age and not playing for a while is affecting him trying to make the comeback. Starting in big games another indicator.
He’s making $180k/month. I guess the decision was not too difficult when that sort of money is being thrown around. Read it on another website.