High-Flying Donovan Is Here to Stay With Galaxy
Landon Donovan has come home.
Arguably the finest soccer player the United States has produced, Donovan, 23, officially joined the Galaxy on Thursday morning, when he was introduced to the media at the Home Depot Center amid the whir of television cameras.
A little bit of Hollywood never hurts, and Donovan brings that, and a lot more, to the Major League Soccer club.
When he left California for Germany in November, to play in the Bundesliga, it was under a cloud of doubts. When he flew back to his home state Wednesday night, he was wrapped in the corporate comfort of one of Phil Anschutz’s private jets -- plush leather, walnut paneling and gold trim -- and accompanied by his actress girlfriend Bianca Kajlich, as well as comedian Drew Carey.
The anguished battles to free himself from the entanglements of well-intentioned but overly regimented Bayer Leverkusen in Germany were finally behind him. The twin U.S. national team World Cup qualifying battles against Mexico and Guatemala -- lose one, win one, live to fight another day -- were also in the past.
Donovan’s acquisition by the Galaxy, confirmed when veteran Cobi Jones handed him a gold and green No. 10 jersey, has Carey, a Galaxy season-ticket holder, excited about the 2005 MLS season.
It’s Donovan’s poise, at only 23, that impresses Carey, as much as his play.
“He is really, really mature and together, man, doing the press stuff,” Carey said. “He looks young, kind of, but he knows just what to say. He speaks from the heart. He doesn’t sound phony or forced, and yet he says the appropriate things.”
So what did Donovan have to say?
“You guys will probably never know how difficult this thing was,” the Redlands native began, “but trust me, there were many sleepless nights, many people up all night in the last two weeks trying to make this happen.”
What had happened, according to Tim Leiweke, president of the Anschutz Entertainment Group that operates the Galaxy and four other MLS teams, was that AEG and MLS had bought Donovan outright from Bayer Leverkusen for however many millions of dollars it took.
He is not here on loan. He is here for good. He is here to play.
“The situation in Germany definitely didn’t go as planned,” Donovan said. “In the last few weeks, it became very evident that I was not playing and was not going to play. Then [the decision to return to MLS] became very simple.
“I need to play soccer, not only for my professional career but for me personally. It makes me happy. Sitting on the bench anywhere is not fun for me.... When it became possible for me to come to L.A. it was a no-brainer. To Bayer Leverkusen’s credit, they made it possible.
“This is where I need to be. This is where I play best. This is the style I play best in. It’s obvious that I need to be here, period.”
Donovan’s place in history alongside such U.S. standouts as Jones, Alexi Lalas, Marcelo Balboa and others also factored into the equation, he said.
“When I look back one day, when I leave a legacy, I want to be remembered as someone who helped get this sport to the next level” in the U.S., Donovan said. “Before me were the Cobis and Alexis and Marcelos and they stayed here and they signed in the beginning and they started this thing. I would be doing a disservice to future players if I didn’t stay and help build the sport in this country. I don’t need to be in Europe. I don’t need to be anywhere but here. This is the future of soccer in this country.
“I want to be remembered as someone who helped this sport as much [as] or more than anybody else and I will go to sleep tonight very, very content, knowing that I did everything I could to make soccer at least the No. 2 sport in this country.”
And with that, Donovan was off, back to the airport and back into the sky. No corporate jet this time. No comedian. No girlfriend. Just teammates on a commercial flight headed for Saturday’s season opener in Columbus.
The Galaxy’s Donovan era is about to begin.
