After five matches played, one goal scored, and by most accounts quality play all around, the momentum for a permanent Landon Donovan move to Everton is beginning to pick up steam.
Forget the numbers being batted about (which have me skeptically furrowing my brow), or the provenance of the rumors; the simple fact that the whispers are starting indicates that Donovan's value is on the rise and that MLS may be facing a difficult decision in the very near future.
While no one really knows for sure, conventional wisdom holds that Major League Soccer is bound to overprice their biggest American star, asking for a transfer fee that would make a move for Donovan almost impossible. In the past, I've even presented a logical argument for why MLS isn't wrong to do so (in perhaps my oddest piece of writing to date, where I used an indirect analogy about a piece of furniture). Still, just because I can understand where the Garber, Arena, AEG, or whomever else might be involved is coming from doesn't mean I think it would be right to prevent Donovan from leaving by setting an exorbitant price. It's fine line between what's smart and what's right.
Unfortunately, Donovan weakened his case for the league to do right by him by signing a new four year contract just before his Everton loan began. The new deal, which makes Donovan the highest paid American in the history of MLS (and by a wide margin), would appear to tie him to playing his club soccer in the US; if Donovan's aspirations are to settle in Europe (finally), he may have done damage to his own chances by re-upping. There could be something to that, though I still believe that signing the new contract was the right move on Donovan's part. It's doubtful that even he could have foreseen the easy transition he's made to England, and a $2 million a year safety net is a nice thing to have.
But it's time that Major League Soccer, provided the offer is fair, to let go of Donovan. Not because it's the "right" thing to do, and not because they owe Donovan; no, the MLS needs to let go of their American poster boy because it will ultimately benefit them in the long run.
There's little doubt that Landon Donovan is the best American player in Major League Soccer. Awards aside, Donovan's talent puts him on a different level, one that only a handful of foreign players in the league can match. In an American league desperate for American attention, it should follow that Donovan's value as a marketing commodity is therefore massive, making letting him go either distasteful at the least or potentially disastrous at the most.
Yet Donovan's drawing power is debatable, and the importance of his role as American superstar is tenuous, if only because the marketing power of the league is far more dependent on its foreign stars and overall quality of play than it is on domestic talent. Would MLS really be worse off if Donovan said goodbye to the Galaxy?
The path to relevancy for MLS includes improving their overall product, continuing the process of putting clubs in their own buildings, and sending young talent overseas where they will better the American league's reputation. The natural progression and financial constraints of MLS means that it will increasingly become an export league; while young players like Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore are the norm, a situation like Donovan's, where an established player with a long history in the league looks to move abroad, will sometimes present itself. Suddenly, MLS must decide if Donovan's abilities do the league more good on fields in Kansas City and Denver than they would in London and Manchester.
Be smart, MLS. Take a reasonable offer for Donovan ($8-10 million sounds about right), spend the money you would have paid him on raising the talent bar across the league, and continue to lean on foreign superstars if you need a marketing boost. Your audience is growing steadily as it is, and the soccer junkie holdouts will not be buying tickets or flipping on their televisions because one American star happens to be on the field. If Landon Donovan plays well in England, the league's profile and marketability will see an increase. Move on from Donovan and let him go not because it's the fair thing to do but because it's the smart thing to do.
