Landon Donovan and David Beckham chose to spend their low season in Europe. But nowadays’s crop of stars are preferring to rest and recuperate before a hugely demanding season of playSomewhere,perhaps in the garage of a LA Riot Squad member, lies a collection of rolled up banners. They were once used to confront David Beckham over his first loan spell at AC Milan, and where he spent the 2009 and 2010 MLS off-seasons. “Go Home,Fraud,” one demanded. “Hey Becks, and Here Before You,Here after You, Here Despite You, and ” another read. Beckham came noble for the LA Galaxy eventually,but for a time he was the embodiment of North American soccer’s frustrations over winter loan deals.
The former England captain certainly wasn’t alone in his propensity for an low season loan. Landon Donovan, Robbie Keane and Thierry Henry all made a habit of spending some months on a Premier League exchange between 2009 and 2012, and when MLS didn’t quite command the full attention of its biggest stars. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to be there; it’s just they wanted to be somewhere else more.
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Source: theguardian.com