Keeping Donovan

Sunday tabloids have been saying we will get him for £3M — what a bargain! You don't have to sell the crown jewels to get him; Vaughan £2M, Victor £2M, Yak £6M, Yobo £4M are all players I expect to move on in the summer, with Beckford hopefully free and Mucha free this would leave 11m to buy a quality midfelder and a left back.

I think you can get a £10M player for £5M these days as football is reeling from the overspending of previous years. However, the surplus £11M will probably go on unpaid installments on previous buys or overheads knowing us.

Hopefully Coleman will be what 22 next season, me thinks he’s old enough if he is good enough.

Some people will complain that it is ’sell to buy’, but so what if we end up better off? I have no regrets over Lescott's departure. I think we are better for it. We have all seen the financial reports, there won't be vast amounts of money this close season. I have no problem with Moyes sanctioning sales, as his transfer dealings are simply excellent.

When we have two genuine wide players — or should I say players who’s natural positions are left and right — we are a MUCH better team.

Donovan is a clued-up hard working pacy player who does the simple things without overdoing the fancy dan stuff. Unlike Leon he is not the type to be dominated or pushed around or play the invisible man.

At the same time he does not strike me as being a genuine class act. However, he makes Osman look like a one-paced weakling and fulfils my prediction of a few years ago.

He’s been superb. I’m not objective when judging his play. I, as an American, am passionately rooting for the guy and probably overlook his poor play and shortcomings: but they have been few and his pace and crosses have been spectacular IMO.

If we are going to spend on a right sided player we should sign him and not another.

One final note: many on here were stating they thought he wasn’t up to the high standards of the EPL. I sincerely hope those who thought so continually underestimate American players. Our National squad is frankly underrated. The quality of player, although not in the large numbers you see in Europe, is increasing massively in recent years in this country.

You English fellas shouldn’t take that first match in World Cup group play very lightly. We’d like nothing more than to be seen as a typical American side to be walked over when we meet in June.

I’m not saying we’ll win — but it’s a hell of a lot more possible than I think many of you over there think.

200 years later a table has turned. Someone mount a horse and ride through the countryside yelling, "The Americans are coming! The Americans are coming!"

No offense, but I’d love to beat England. And we’ve got more quality than I think a lot of Brits give us credit for.

Back to all things EFC.... sign the kid as quickly as possible, if possible.

It has been frustrating to watch US players go to Europe, only to end up sitting on the bench frequently, with the exception of goalkeepers. So most fans here are thrilled to see him do well at Everton and with the warm welcome he has received. (Giving him the number 9 jersey did not go unnoticed.)

And, yes, more than a few of us have begun following and pulling for Everton since Donovan’s arrival, though we love Howard, too. (I got up a 7 am and went to a pub to watch the game this weekend.)

Great team, great fans, great manager, seems like Donovan is happy and contributing. And I, too, think he can call his own shots with the chumps at the MLS, so I think there is a good chance for a deal if Everton has a longer-term interest.

(Sorry to hear about Cole. Hope he’s on the field on 12 June.)

Incidentally, my son, Landon, was kinda named after Landon Donovan, and I have the CUTEST picture with my son and Landon Donovan taken before the US - Argentina soccer game. Donovan is a true gentleman, and a fantastic footballer. and hey, Tim Howard ain't so bad either!!

Up Everton!

1. MLS wants European credibility.

2. The MLS views the big picture on growth and letting LD go to the EPL benefits the League and LD.

3. LD will leave Everton in March in order to play one more MLS season to say goodbye to his fans, next January transfer should be the focus.

WHY EVERTON WANT LD

1. Fans are the same everywhere, assholes who never see the light and others need to get out of the sun. LD’s run of games shows his talent, he keeps getting better, adjusting, learning.

2. Donovan is marketable, I bet every website for Everton has had a spike in visits since his arrival..

3. America is a sports heaven, just not soccer right now. The 1st EPL team to truly break the American market will reap the rewards. When Chelsea played in Seattle for an exhibition game, the event was sold out with over 60,000 in attendance.

WHY EVERTON DO NOT WANT LD
1. You already have one yank on the team and the quota is filled.

Regardless of whether we sign him or not (for what its worth, I love his workrate, pace, intelligence and corner taking) it shows what pace can bring to a team. Contrast his running with Bily who is surely the slowest player we have and there is no contest. Granted, some say Bily is out of position but you get my point.

I think that since he was too good for the MLS he just ended up scoring a lot, but on the US National team he is a roaming playmaker. Think in the Iniesta mold. And now that he has Saha and Cahill and so many options, people are seeing his value as a pacey team oriented playmaker with a tireless work rate. In fact, Donovan has never played the right wing position.

Also, he is going to get a lot better once he finds his scoring touch. And finally, thank you to Beckham because it appears Landon has really mastered the pinpoint corner.

Donovan would be a coveted star if it weren’t for the fact he is plagued by being labeled a yank. For the money, it is more than worth it and it will increase Everton’s relationship in the States.

Also, he has lucrative Nike and Gatorade endorsements. I read that Nike has visited him already in Liverpool. I have a feeling Nike will cross market Donovan as an Everton player and Americans will be eating it all up. This may be the kicker, Nike endorsements (coupled with credit card abusing yanks) will provide the income for Everton to keep him.

In America, even at Galaxy home games, there is not the tumult and pandemonium that EPL rooters take for granted. Believe me, he’s played all these years without hearing that kind of response. Even in our National team, when we play one of the CONCACAF Latin teams in America, it’s like an away game for the US National team.

After all these years, Landon’s getting his first true taste of "The Roar of the Crowd". Might sound silly to you in England, but it’s very real to a fellow like Landon. Stuff like that isn’t part of contract negotiations certainly, but the Toffee followers have put the bug into Landon. He’ll be back with Everton.

And really, if Landon wants to extend the loan this season, the loan will be extended. MLS is not that big in our country. Not because of the game itself (virtually every boy and girl in America plays soccer as his/her first sport), but because the MLS growth pattern has fiscal control as the first rule.

With that, Landon is the only American soccer player in our country that people outside of soccer fans knows. He’s the only soccer player with major endorsement contracts in America. If he says "I’m going to Everton to play", he’s going to Everton.

I can’t wait. With everything else I see about the Everton team, 2011 will see Silverware raised.

Up Everton!

So, Mike Taylor, break my balls while you have the chance. Landon is just the first inkling of what’s coming. I’m glad for him and the EPL (which I love). But the only thing missing in MLS is the top scorers in the world (who must be paid). I don’t know what impression it made in England, but when Beckham signed to the Galaxy, he sold out stadiums across America. Then everyone realized David is a solid but complementary player. It’s the scorers we want, just like everywhere else.

With that, we’ll take Henry, Ruud, Raul, Beckham et al as they enter the last part of their career. Just be aware that, once big money Americans throw into MLS, they’ll compete for the top scorers; Cristiano will follow Raul to America, MLS will chase after Wayne Rooney. The only reason the EPL is superior to MLS is money. Over there in England, be safe until you start reading about big money being invested in MLS.

It’s the business end of things I’m finding hopelessly optimistic. US football is odd, odd, odd. As someone above explained, there is no individual club memebership. MLS — the league itself — holds all player registrations and owns all the clubs. Yep, those whacky Americans can’t abide the NHS, but they’ve got socialist football!

He’ll be back in the States in March, of that there is no doubt. Then he’ll go the World Cup. That’ll put him in the shop window for a move. But ultimately, the MLS are not going to let him go cheap, if at all. Any talk to the contrary is foolhardy in the extreme. In short, I doubt we’ll be able to afford him.

I hope I’m wrong. He’s class, and even plays like an Evertonian (if you know what I mean!}), which is why I’ve always kept an eye out for him. And when he goes home in March, we will go through a bad spell, you can bet on it.

But I just can’t see Big Bill winning a bidding war against anyone richer than say, Accrington Stanley. Particularly not for a 28-year-old (in March) American with large wage demands.

And the deal doesn’t necessarily have to be "Here’s Donovan, give us $XX million" by MLS. Endorsement percentages could be involved. Or even something as (not) so far-fetched as Everton taking on, and playing, another American; say a healthy Charlie Davis. His foot speed and eye for the goal would fit in wonderfully with the Toffees. In fact, they should go after Charlie anyway. You all will love him and it appears he has recovered almost miraculously from a terrible car accident of only months ago.

Anyway, it all really rests with Landon. He is America’s only marketable soccer player and MLS knows it. And at that, nothing on the scale of the Beckhams, Henrys, and Ronaldos of the world. There is nothing left in MLS for him really.

MLS will grow as soon as it decides to jump into the competition to sign the Rooneys and Kakas while they’re in their primes, not near the end of their careers. I imagine EPL fans may not want to hear it, but once you drop down from the top money clubs in Europe, the rest of the teams over there are basically equal to MLS. It’s the elite talent level players that MLS won’t bid for that makes the difference. And that has nothing to do with Landon.

He’s entering his prime years and finally has a top European club giving him a fair chance, unlike his last trip to the Bundesliga where he shined when he played, but the club really didn’t want him.

By the way, I find comments about how expensive Landon will be premature. He didn’t get paid a fortune in MLS. He made much, much more through his endorsement deals. So I don’t see how he will cost too much in salary.

No-one loves to watch him play more than I and as an American I’m super proud that we finally have a player, who’s not a keeper, excelling in the world’s top professional league. But everyone has to earn their way up the salary scale. Donovan’s no different.

In the end, which I’ll say again and again, if Landon wants to play for Everton, MLS will make the deal. There’s really not much they can do to stop him if he wants to go. And it looks to me, he wants to this time — and to Everton.

By the way, since I mentioned him earlier, a healthy Charlie Davis would do wonderfully up front for the Toffees. Someone tell Mr Moyes to go after him. He’s not expensive and, if recovered fully, will give Toffee opponents fits. Believe me, Everton fans will love him.