The Los Angeles Galaxy's Landon Donovan is all but signed and sealed for a 10-week loan to Everton Football Club of the English Premier League.
Everton manager David Moyes announced on Friday in Liverpool, England, that the loan agreement to bring Donovan over was "all done now. Landon will join us at the start of January.
"He will come in and add pace. He's a good finisher."
The Galaxy were not available for comment on Moyes' statement, but the agreement is not expected to be formalized until Monday.
It has been quite a week for the 27-year-old Donovan, who on Wednesday signed a new four-year contract to remain with the MLS club. He is coming off a year in which he topped the club with 12 goals in 25 games and helped them reached the MLS Cup Final, where they lost to Real Salt Lake. He had received interest from several prominent clubs, including Everton, Liverpool, Glasgow Celtic, Mexico's Club America, Paris Saint-Germain and Italy's Livorno, but Everton recently became the front-runner to acquire his services.
Donovan is expected to join Everton on Jan. 1 and will remain there until March 15. He then will return to southern California in plenty of time for the Galaxy's regular-season opener against the New England Revolution on March 27 at The Home Depot Center.
Arena said Everton is "a great fit" for Donovan.
"You want to go where you're wanted, where you have the best opportunity to succeed," Donovan said. "Everton has been incredibly professional, expressed their interest and I feel like that's a place where I could be very comfortable.
"When you're wanted by a club like that, by a manager like that it's very special and an opportunity that doesn't come around too often."
Donovan will rejoin Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard, his teammate on the U.S. national team. Howard is in his fourth season with the Toffees after moving over from Manchester United.
This will mark Donovan's second playing venture overseas in 12 months. He was with Bayern Munich from January to March and previously had stints with Bayer Leverkusen in 1999 and 2004.
Everton, which reached the FA Cup final last season, is in 15th place in the Premier League.
"I am very grateful to (Galaxy head coach and general manager) Bruce (Arena) and AEG for allowing me the opportunity to do something I'm very passionate about," Donovan said, "to have the ability to go on loan and play in some of the best leagues in the world. Most soccer players don't get this opportunity to kind of have the best of both worlds. But I have this opportunity now, which is incredible.
"That's something I want to do and try."
Another Galaxy player heading overseas is David Beckham, who will join Serie A powerhouse AC Milan in January. He likely will remain in Europe through the completion of the Italian season to improve his chances of playing for England in next summer's World Cup in South Africa before returning to MLS.
Larry Morgan is a contributor to MLSnet.com
