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Landon Donovan officially ends retirement, will play for LA Galaxy again

Published Nov. 15, 2016 2:41 p.m. ET

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Ryan Rosenblatt

Landon Donovan's retirement is over. The MLS and United States legend has decided to return to soccer and will play for the LA Galaxy again.

Reports of Donovan's return started on Thursday morning and by the afternoon, he had made it official.

Yes, he will wear No. 26. The No. 10 he wore for so many years is now taken by Giovani dos Santos.

Donovan hasn't played since 2014, when he announced he would be stepping away from the game for good. He had a rough last couple seasons, citing burnout, and after being left off the roster for the 2014 World Cup, he decided it was time to give up the sport. But 21 months later, he's changed his mind and wants back in.

In a Facebook post announcing his return, Donovan said that he hadn't been planning a return, but after the Galaxy suffered injuries to Gyasi Zardes, Steven Gerrard and Jelle van Damme, plus the departure of Nigel de Jong, people from the club joked about him returning. The more he thought about it, the more he thought it might be a good idea and that he'd love to have his son, born earlier this year, with him on the field after a game one day.

"I then had a candid conversation with Bruce Arena and we began down the path of deciding whether this made sense," Donovan wrote. "We both agreed that if this was going to happen, the expectations would be minimal and he would use me in situations that made sense for the team. I’ve spent a lot of time speaking with my family and close friends over the past several days, and we all agreed that this would be a wonderful opportunity and a win-win situation for everyone."

Donovan is now 34 years old and there's no telling how his time away from the sport will have affected him. He reportedly hasn't been training with the Galaxy first time so he's probably a fair bit away from being fit. And even if he has been training, he'll have to get match fit, and the only way to do that is by playing in actual games, which he hasn't done in nearly two years. As of now, there is no word on when Donovan will play his first match with the Galaxy.

Of course, this is still Landon Donovan. No one has won more MLS Cups than his six. No one in the history of the league has more goals or assists either. He truly stands alone and if he can play anywhere near where he once did -- he had 10 goals and 19 assists in his last season -- then the Galaxy could be right back in MLS Cup contention.

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