http://www.mlsnet.com/MLS/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20041123&content_id=19573&vkey=news_mls&fext=.jsp
"Landon Donovan has played his last Major League Soccer game, at least for a few years.
The San Jose Earthquakes star and U.S. national team captain said Tuesday he will be going to Germany to join Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen when the co-sharing deal between MLS and the German club expires on January 1, 2005. Leverkusen exercised its option to recall Donovan this summer, and now Donovan has decided to return to Leverkusen, fulfilling his obligation to the club that originally signed him as a 16-year-old in 1999."
Not unexpected, but still difficult to take. It's good for him, it's good for the MLS and it's good for the National Team. The Earthquakes get an allocation but it's unlikely whoever we pick up will have the same impact that he did.