HERMOSA BEACH, Calif. – The LA Galaxy and their fans bid Landon Donovan farewell Monday night when the club celebrated its fifth MLS Cup championship with a rally at the base of the Hermosa Beach Pier.
Now LA need to figure out how to replace their departing legend.
A “One more year!” chant turned into “Two more years!” as Donovan addressed a crowd of approximately 2,000.
“I think yesterday was probably the best day of my career,” he told the gathering. “Not only what happened on the field, but having the chance to talk to a lot of guys after the game. As guys, we don't always tell each other exactly how we feel, and there was a lot of emotional, nice sentiments from a lot of players that mans a lot to me.
“A lot of us have been together for five, six, seven years, so you end up seeing these guys as much if not more than your family, and so they become family and friends, and yesterday was very special for me and one I will never forget.”
Donovan, who joined LA in 2005, has one more Galaxy assignment to complete – he's among nine players, plus club president Chris Klein and Galaxy II coach Curt Onalfo – departing Tuesday for a weeklong trip to Ecuador and Peru on behalf of club sponsor Herbalife. Omar Gonzalez, A.J. DeLaGarza, Gyasi Zardes, Marcelo Sarvas, Juninho, Leonardo, Jaime Penedo and Dan Gargan are also on the trip.
Afterwards, the question becomes: how do the Galaxy replace Donovan?
“We won't replace Landon,” head coach Bruce Arena said after the rally. “But we're going to get another good player, no question about that.”
The Galaxy have already held conversations with representatives of several players, and discussions have progressed “far enough to have some options,” Arena said. “We'll see what goes down in the next month or so.”
There have been reports in Europe of Galaxy interest in Italian midfielder Andrea Pirlo and English midfielder Steven Gerrard.
- Get more LA Galaxy news at LAGalaxy.com
“We have a bunch of names that are out there and have shown interest and that we have interest in ...,” Klein said following LA's victory Sunday. “We need to go out and we need to have some patience and we need to pick the right guy, that fits with our club, that fits with what we need, and that's a Galaxy guy.”
Galaxy captain Robbie Keane, who drew a loud ovation – and spurred a standing ovation among his teammates – when he declared that “Landon Donovan is LA Galaxy” to close the rally, called Donovan's departure “an absolutely massive loss, there's no question.”
“You lose so much with Landon [leaving],” associate head coach Dave Sarachan said. “You don't replace Landon with a Landon, but we have the organization that's committed to bringing in the very best that we're able to afford.
“We have a DP slot, and you know the Galaxy are going to bring in someone of high quality, and how that measures up is always a little bit of a crap shoot, but we will do our best to bring in the best.”
