CARSON, Calif. — Bruce Arena wasn't about to bite when asked about Wednesday's report that the LA Galaxy are trying to bring in Giovani dos Santos as their next Designated Player, but Landon Donovan acknowledged it would be “pretty cool” if a deal to bring in the Mexican attacker could be made.
ESPN Deportes' Tomas Colombo, producer of the Jorge Ramos y su Banda radio show, reported Wednesday that the Galaxy have offered a contract worth $8 million to dos Santos. The 24-year-old signed last summer with Mallorca in Spain after coming through Barcelona's youth academy and stints with the first teams at Barça and Tottenham and in loans to Ipswich Town, Galatasaray and Racing Santander.
The Galaxy have had an open DP slot since David Beckham departed after last season, and they pursued Brazilian midfielder Kaká, who re-signed with Real Madrid, and English midfielder Frank Lampard, who re-signed with Chelsea. There also have been reports claiming LA interest in Ronaldinho, who plays for Atlético Mineiro in Brazil, and unattached Russian midfielder Andrei Arshavin.
“Eight million?” Arena quipped when asked about the dos Santos report following Thursday's training session. “Is that for a year? Is that 10 years? We don't comment on players until we sign them, and the player's under contract. So you don't talk about players that are under contract.”
READ: Does a Liga MX team have its eyes on Landon Donovan?
Donovan said that although he’s heard plenty of rumors in his days with the club, he admitted bringing in the Mexican national team star is tantalizing concept.
“I think he's a fantastic player,” he said. “Certainly, he's hurt us many times with the US team. As far as talent goes, there's not many players I've played against that are that talented. So we'll see what happens.”
Wednesday's report also claimed that Valencia in Spain and Mexican club Querétaro also are pursuing dos Santos, who has 16 goals in 62 caps for Mexico and starred for El Tri at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
The Galaxy employed top Mexican players in their first six seasons — Jorge Campos in 1996-97, Carlos Hermosillo in 1998-99 and Luis Hernandez in 2001-02 — but none in the past decade.
“I think to this community, [bringing in a Mexican player] would be really important,” Donovan said. “It's been quite a while since this team has had a Mexican player, I think, and it would be pretty cool. But let's not put the cart before the horse.”
