The Mail Bag
Donovan Confirmed
Comments (23)
According to the Los Angeles Times Landon Donovan is to come to Everton for the first 10 weeks of 2010.
By my reckoning, that means we get to use him for about 10 Premier League games, including Liverpool, Man U, Chelsea, Spurs, City and Arsenal as well as a possible 4 FA Cup games and 3 possible Europa games. It seems good business to me (from a player choice point of view) although the finance side of it is not discussed or mentioned. If the hype is to be believed, he is a good, fast, right sided attacking player. Praise be...
Tony McDonald, Posted 16/12/2009 at 17:25:27
Comments
Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer
Bruce Arena (LA Coach) "The loan deal has not yet been finalised but, yes, it will likely be Everton, yes"
Not yet done deal, but all the pol-correct noises from him about the Blues. Why he'd want to stay in the MLS? The weather? The eye candy?
But bigger than that, it’s a fantastic marketing move by Everton. Believe it or not the game is getting bigger in the States, and with this being a World Cup year a lot of focus will be on the US team over the next few months. And Donovan is the most known player with all the media knowing who he is. So what this means is, the American sporting world will be looking at how he does while playing for Everton.
And what does that mean? Exposure. It means a ton of exposure for Everton. This is what is needed and I think it’s a great move on that basis. And if it goes okay this time, I think Everton would be very wise to try to make this an annual move, similar to Beckham going to Milan each year now.
And in fact they’re the country our goalkeeper comes from and he’s pretty good. And the last time we signed an American forward on loan from the MLS in a similar deal, he scored four goals in eight games, a decent strike rate. And Donovan is the country’s highest ever goalscorer and most capped player, so is theoretically better.
Donovan’s a good player, and hopefully he’ll do the business for us.
Good move and lets hope he shines. Still remember his performance against Brazil, if he plays like that i will be a happy man!
You don’t select the England team by any chance?
Donovan, should he join us, is already a proven player of worth. If his loan works out, we would have to wait and see. But David is quite right - the US and its potentially massive ’soccer’ market is a good place for our club to be well-known. And not just for selling shirts.
Good young footballers - there will be many - will be looking to English speaking clubs in Europe to develop their careers. We would simply become one of the logical options for them, and the more logical the better.
Three players get a semi-regular mention on American shows like ESPN Sportscentre and the like: Beckham, Tim Howard, and Landon Donovan.
We’ll have two of that three, so a certain increase in Everton’s exposure in The States, especially as the World Cup approaches.
As we have seen — the downfall this year has come from all our injuries this year, and disruption to our squad with people shuffling around and playing out of position.
For example, having Heitinga and Neill ineligible for Europa Cup games has really disrupted the team’s preparations, and why we have failed every time we’ve come back to play in the EPL. There are just too many communications problems at the back.
I’m hoping bringing in Donovan for 10 weeks won’t be too disruptive for the team, especially trying to learn to play with him and then learning to play without him... to be honest, I don’t care whether he does well or not, I just don't want to lose anymore games.
It’s negative, pessimistic, ill-thought out, daft UN-SUPPORTIVE of our club comments like this that lately has made me think some of our so called fans haven’t got a fucking clue what they’re talking about.
Get a fucking grip.
COYB
James Stuart.
Steve Bruce and Wigan were desperate to keep hold of Heskey, Martin O’Neil thought Heskey was worth having, Capello and other England managers have thought he is worth having. So all of these mangers haven't got a clue? Hmm... I need to start listening to your opinions more often.
ps Vincent my mother is proud of me, but yours of you?
Let's give Donovan a chance, especially as he may well be a revelation, I remember one Brian McBride coming in and doing a great job for us and a certain Kevin Campbell... oh and the ’best little Spaniard we know’.
Loan players are not going to be the creme de la creme but quite often they have something to prove (and note I said quite often, not always). Let's show a little bit of optimism for once and get behind the boys.
Nil satis nisi optimism anyone?
COYB
What the hell has how good a nation is at football got to do with an individual player's ability?
Good, pacy player will improve the squad, no ones wetting themselves but a good aquistion none the less
Add Your Comments
In order to post a comment to the MailBag, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site.
Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and MailBag submissions across the site.
-sm.jpg)
-sm.jpg)
-sm.jpg)
-sm.jpg)
