Landon's landing - but where?

Landon Donovan. Remember him?

Long before the emergence of Freddy Adu (remember him?) the LA Galaxy forward was vaunted as the great hope of US football. He was destined, it was said, to be the first American to crack the higher echelons of the European game. Nearly a decade since he first surfaced, for a number of reasons, it simply hasn’t happened.

Even at the relatively tender age of 26, it seems like Donovan has been around for an age. Starting out at Bayer Leverkusen as a 16-year-old, the diminutive Californian found it hard to adapt to life on the banks of the Rhine. While his club career in Europe singularly failed to launch, Donovan impressed at the 1999 U-17 World Championship, winning the Golden Ball awarded to the tournament’s star player.

A return to the States in 2001, initially on loan, came as a welcome respite from the disillusionment engendered by his failure to impact on the Leverkusen first team. At MLS club San Jose Earthquakes, the young striker found his feet in the professional game – and spectacularly so. Goals, assists and headlines galore saw Donovan established as the biggest ‘name’ in US football.

Naturally, Leverkusen monitored his progress closely and, impressed by his development, invited their great young American hope back to the club in the summer of 2004. Again, Donovan’s impression on the Bundesliga was negligible – no goals and only two starts – and pretty soon he was on a flight home to the safe sanctuary of MLS; this time with Los Angeles Galaxy.

During the past four years, Donovan has cemented his place as the biggest fish in what is, to be frank, a footballing backwater. Galaxy may have endured more downs than ups of late – they finished rock bottom of the ‘regular season’ table – but Donovan finished as the League’s top scorer with 20 goals in 25 games; striking up an intuitive understanding with David Beckham in the process.

But, with the recent departures of Alexi Lalas, Ruud Gullit and now Milan-bound Becks symptomatic of a faltering franchise, Donovan has decided to cut and run.

Donovan clearly needs a new challenge on the back of his most productive season to date in La-La Land. He’s done and won everything in MLS and is already the all-time leading scorer for the US (with 37 goals).

“Nothing against our guys (in MLS), but in a lot of situations where you're making 12, 15 thousand a year, you're worrying about other things other than training the next day or getting ready for the game,” he said recently.

His conclusion: “Mentally, I'm ready (to play in Europe) and I wasn't ready before in any way. I want to make the most of that. I've only got one career and I want to make sure that I give myself a chance.''

So, Donovan wants to swap the LA beach-house for a luxury penthouse apartment in one of Europe’s myriad cultural hotspots. Or Middlesbrough.

But where should he go?

Despite the forward’s previous travails in the Bundesliga with Leverkusen, there have been strong rumours linking him with ex-California resident Jurgen Klinsmann’s Bayern Munich. Donovan, though, has plainly intimated he’d prefer a shot at England or Spain this time around.

“I'd love to play in the Premiership or in Spain, I think that would be incredible,” Donovan said, earlier this week.

“I watch games every weekend and I think I could contribute on a lot of teams.”

He added, when asked about a move to England: “It would be a much easier fit than most places, for sure,”

“In my situation I can't be super-picky, but if it’s the right offer with the right team...there's a lot of ifs.”

He’s right; there are a lot of ‘ifs’. But, available at what will surely be a reasonable price tag – given the MLS’ centrally-controlled contract policy – Donovan represents a gamble worth taking for many clubs.

The smart money would probably be on the US no.10 rocking up at ‘Fulhamerica’ sometime during the January transfer window. Several other teams in the mid-to-lower reaches of the Premier League could certainly be interested in Donovan’s services too. A player of craft and significant natural ability, he would considerably augment the attacking options of many an English side.

Whichever club Donovan does end up at, they might well be glad they were brave enough to give the Californian star another shot at European success.