Memo To MLS: Let Landon Go

Charles Klein 


That headline may come as somewhat of a shock for you. After all Landon Donovan was a star in the United States team which shocked the world by winning their group for the first time since the great depression. And he is probably the most marketable U.S. based soccer player around right now. But, plain and simple MLS need to get out of the denial stage and skip a few down to acceptance of this one fact: Landon Donovan does not want to play in your league. 


I understand that the league wants to keep Landon Donovan in Los Angeles so that it may build on the momentum gained from the 2010 World Cup and translate into higher attendance and more money for the Major League Soccer. It makes good sense for the Galaxy to want to hold on to Donovan (especially if the Ronaldinho rumors have any truth to them) and many would see a Donovan departure as an indictment on the league; which it would be.


Anyone who argues what I've just said needs to understand something else. Nearly every other player on the United States national team plays overseas. And MLS did very little to stop it. USA's top talents, namely Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Tim Howard (Everton), Jozy Altidore (Villareal), Charlie Davies (Sochaux), Oguchi Oneyewu (AC Milan), Carlos Bocanegra (St. Etienne) and Michael Bradley (Borussia Mönchengladbach) all play somewhere outside the United States. The league needs to stop trying to keep players in the United States when its best have been thriving abroad. 


I know that Donovan is still under contract with the Galaxy. I understand that the team has a right to hold him to the terms of their agreement. But at the same time if the team decides that it is in their best interests to sell Donovan the league should not stand in the way of them. Players leaving teams before the end of their contracts is a very common thing in world football and yet Americans have a very hard time understanding how it works. Imagine if the New York Yankees could simply go to the St. Louis Cardinals and say, "We want Albert Pujols, we'll give you $100 million for his rights." That's basically how it works in soccer. Ultimately the team has to decide which option is best for them (unless the player wants to leave, in which case they have very little wiggle room in which to operate). It's a rarity for a league to get in the way of a player transferring to another team. 


MLS needs to do what is right and that is to allow Donovan the freedom he deserves. Considering everything he has given U.S. soccer he definitely deserves it.