He was a big hit at Leeds if I remember correctly. I wouldn't say he was a failure as he spent 8 years in England, making somewhere around 250 appearances.
IMO Stuart Holden will be injury prone for the rest of his career. (hope not). In the past 2 years, he is one of Nigel De Jongs many broken leg Victims and I believe her tore his ACL at the end of last season and suffered a setback at the beginning of this season. He is the reason that Bolton are so far down the table. He won Boltons player of year despite being injured for Anglos chunk of the season. On the topic of Landon Donavon, he went to Bayern Leverkuson at the age of 16, and eventually went to his head, and he had no drive to make himself better. Got loaned out to the MLS, where he tore the league apart, had an extremely successful world cup in 02 where he won young player of the tournament. Believe he was only 20 at the time, and his success got to his head and he ended up in the MLS permanently. He then became his own brand in the states. The American David Beckham in a sense. His value then skyrocketed and the MLS used his face to promote the league. The price the MLS put on Donavon's head was too high for anyone interested. He used the excuse that he stayed here to help the league develop, even though it is most likely he was afraid to fail again. Around the time of his first loan stint at Everton he did an interview admitting the reason he left Germany was because he was too immature and didn't work hard enough, an now that he's bettered himself as a person, he's become a much better player overall. Now he isn't worth as much too the MLS as he was before but he's nearing 30 and many clubs won't be interested, and IMO the Galaxy could compete on a regular basis with the teams in the relegation zone. Or at least the team that just won the MLS could, so he wouldn't want to move to a team that hovers around the relegation months for the entire premier league season. I am a bit bias, as I am from the Los Angeles area and a Galaxy supporter. IMO Dempsey is in better form now, and will have a club career that will be better than Donavon, but Donavon is the better and more important player for the National team, which is why I think Donavon is still a better player. The biggest aspect of the game the Donavon has a large advantage over Dempsey is his willingness to win a game on his own, no matter what it takes. Although Dempsey seems to be developing this part of game these last couple of months. Regardless they'll both go down as the two greatest American "Soccer" players. At least for the time being.
Allow me to disagree with this, just because Donovan is the better player for the US that doesn't make him a better player than Dempsey overall. For example, Aguero is a better player for Argentina than Messi, but would you call him the better player? The US tactics just suit Donovan more than they do Dempsey. If the US played with the same attacking formation that Dempsey plays in then I think Dempsey would be the better player.
IMO it's more of Donavon has an easier time adapting to different systems. I don't think Dempsey and Donavon have played under Klinsmann at the same time yet and he's playing a completely different system than Bradley did. Also Landon is a bit more versatile than Dempsey IMO. Donavon can play on either side of the midfield up top, and an attacking midfield effectively. Regardless it's a Ronaldo vs. Messi debate and neither one of us is going to sway. I've also already admitted being bias. guess we have to agree to disagree. Hope both Duece and Landycakes hit hat trick tomorrow in a 3-3 draw. Even I think you'll knick it with a late Dempsey goal.
I also have to admit to some bias, but not because Dempsey is a Fulham player, but because I loathe players who take the easy way out in football. I hate that Michael Owen, who is still a decent player spends more time on Twitter than the football pitch purely because he refuses to move from Utd and sacrifice his heft wage packet. Wayne Bridge is another. Absolute Mercenaries. I just feel that Donovan has gotten all he can out of the MLS, he cannot become a better player while he's still there, he can only move to better himself but he seems determined to stay in his comfort zone.
One of the great things about Demps is his honesty. This morning, for instance, he said about the Newcastle game - "If you look at the game against Newcastle last weekend, I think I only made like 15 or 16 passes in the game. I don’t think I was getting on the ball enough in the first half and the team didn’t have much of a rhythm. The second half was great, getting three goals and being able to make a difference, but the first half was definitely frustrating. You go into halftime knowing you’ve worked hard all week and yet things aren’t going according to plan."
To day at the rumour mill, ( Motspur Park ) word is that the transfer of "Demps" in this window is a done deal, to who ? ? ? ? ?.
Someone said something on another forum/website and it got me thinking. Most people slate Donavon for not going abroad to play, but him staying the MLS has made a huge impact in the growth of Soccer in USA. Where as Dempsey has really brought attention to Americans playing Europe and I'm sure has helped countless young Americans in finding a club over seas.
In an interview yesterday, Dempsey reiterated that he wants "to play in the Champions League" ... the timing of that statement seems quite provocative to me, like he's preparing the team and fans for his departure. I doubt he's going anywhere in the next four days, but I suspect he'll hand in a transfer request when the season's over. Here's the bulk of the quote, which was widely carried by US and English media: "You should never get content. I want to play in the Champions League," he said. "Nobody thought I would get this far. I want to go as far as I can."
Again, if Clint left to join a good CL team then I would hold no grudges, he has proven his loyalty with us. If he left to join Villa, QPR or Sunderland however...
whats the price on Dempsey? 15m? 20m too high - all the prices nowadays are far too high so tells me 20m might not be too far off. at that price i'd take it too.
I heard on the grapevine that QPR have offered £7 million for Clint which is frankly an insult. If he went for anything less than £15 million I'd be disappointed.
IMO, Dempsey is one of the most under-rated players in the Prem. The only people that seem to realise how good he is are Fulham fans!
