Landon Donovan Ready to Ditch MLS. Sprechen Sie Deutsch? Ja!

Based on an interview conducted by the Los Angeles Times yesterday, it appears that United States National Team captain and Los Angeles Galaxy star, Landon Donovan, is ready to try the big leagues of Europe once again. After winning Major League Soccer’s scoring title in the Galaxy’s 2-2 draw with FC Dallas, Donovan told the Times:

“Obviously, there’s a lot of ifs. If the Galaxy is OK with me going. If the league is willing to accept an offer. If an offer comes.

In my situation, I can’t be super picky, but if it’s the right offer and makes sense and if it’s the right team . . . from my standpoint, I’m ready to take that step and I want to.

Competitively, I have that itch and I want to do it, and I’ll make that very clear to people.

If there’s a good team somewhere that wants to fork out that money and that’s that interested in obviously putting their money where their mouth is, then that’s something I have to look at seriously.

That’s not something I can say, ‘Oh, well, I’ll wait till the next one and see what happens.’ I can’t be super picky.

When I go home, in the past getting ready for training and getting ready for games in some ways was almost an afterthought. It was kind of like, wake up in the morning and, ‘Oh, shoot, we’ve got a game tonight.

Now when I get home from training I’m thinking about, ‘How can I be good the next day?’ What do I need to do? I need to rest. I need to get fluids in me. I need to eat properly. I need to sleep well. Those things go in my mind, and I’m craving a situation where that’s [the same for] everybody.

Nothing against our [Galaxy] guys, but in a lot of cases when you’re making $12,000 or $15,000 a year you’re worried about other things than getting up for training the next day, or getting ready for the game. That’s unfortunate, but that’s the way it is.

Secondly, mentally, I’m ready, and I wasn’t ready before, in any way, in any capacity. . . . I want to make sure that I give myself a chance.

I’d love to play in the [English] Premiership. I think it would be incredible. I’d love to play in Spain. I’m not going to go and battle [Chelsea defender and England captain] John Terry and expect to win. But if I can get on a team that plays good soccer, I think I can help.

If that opportunity is still there and they’re committed to making it happen, I would love to do it. Again, it’s a big if. So we’ll see.”

Donovan spent eight seasons with MLS. He won championships in 2001and 2003 with the previous incarnation of the San Jose Earthquakes and in 2005 with the pre-beckham Galaxy. He also previously spent four, largely unsuccessful years, with German Bundesliga outfit Bayer Leverkusen. Rumours abound that sometimes California resident and Bayern Munich manager, Juergen Klinsmann is interested in signing Donovan. The player currently makes an MLS-best $900,000 per year outside of endorsements.

Interview source: http://www.latimes.com/sports/printedition/la-sp-galaxy27-2008oct27,0,1868573.story