Donovan: Galaxy 'assuming' Beckham will stay
Reuters - Wednesday 02 November 2011, 02:00
Los Angeles Galaxy players are
expecting David Beckham to stay with the club next season
despite reports linking him with a move back to Europe, club
captain Landon Donovan said on Tuesday.
Beckham's five-year deal with the Galaxy concludes at the
end of the current Major League Soccer campaign and there have
been suggestions that Paris Saint-Germain and a number of English
clubs are interested in signing the former Manchester United and
Real Madrid midfielder.
Galaxy's owners, however, have indicated a new deal may be
on offer to the 36-year-old Beckham, who has kept his intentions
very close to his chest and refused to discuss his future until
the end of the MLS season.
But, in an interview with the American radio station AM 570,
Donovan said the Galaxy squad expected the former England
captain would be around next season.
"We are all assuming that he is going to be back. I know
nothing has been said, or nothing is official, but I think he
loves it here, his family loves it here and he has been arguably
our best player at long stretches during season.
"He looks as good now as he did even five years ago when he
first came here so I think we are under the assumption he is
coming back and if something changes we have to adjust
accordingly," he added.
The Galaxy host the New York Red Bulls on Thursday in the
second leg of their Western Conference semi-final. L.A have a
1-0 lead from the first game.
That game ended in some rancour, with a melee on the field
and after the game Donovan labelled New York the "cheapest"
(unsporting) team he has played against.
The U.S international said he had wanted to make his views
clear after the incident where a ball thrown by Red Bulls'
Mexican defender Rafa Marquez hit his leg.
"I was clearly not happy with how things ended and I wanted
to make sure that people knew what was going on," he said,
adding that he had not encountered such a situation before in an
MLS game.
"When you have people who are disgracing or shaming the game
that we are trying to build, that is really frustrating and none
of us want to see that."