Bayern Strikes
Fansided

Bayern Munich April Fools: Four poor signings of the century

By Kiran Thakare

Bayern Munich flag at Allianz Arena. (Photo by Christof STACHE / AFP) / RESTRICTIONS: DFL REGULATIONS PROHIBIT ANY USE OF PHOTOGRAPHS AS IMAGE SEQUENCES AND/OR QUASI-VIDEO (Photo credit should read CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP via Getty Images)
Bayern Munich flag at Allianz Arena. (Photo by Christof STACHE / AFP) / RESTRICTIONS: DFL REGULATIONS PROHIBIT ANY USE OF PHOTOGRAPHS AS IMAGE SEQUENCES AND/OR QUASI-VIDEO (Photo credit should read CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
5 of 5
Next
Abu Dhabi al-Jazira player Ibrahim Duake (R) escapes with the ball from Landon Donavan (L) and Ze Roberto (C) of the Bayern of Munich during their friendly football match in Abu Dhabi, on January 10, 2009. Bayern won 3-2. AFP PHOTO/MARWAN NAAMANI (Photo credit should read MARWAN NAAMANI/AFP via Getty Images)
Abu Dhabi al-Jazira player Ibrahim Duake (R) escapes with the ball from Landon Donavan (L) and Ze Roberto (C) of the Bayern of Munich during their friendly football match in Abu Dhabi, on January 10, 2009. Bayern won 3-2. AFP PHOTO/MARWAN NAAMANI (Photo credit should read MARWAN NAAMANI/AFP via Getty Images) /

Landon Donovan

The next name on this list is another loan signing. Die Roten decided to sign Landon Donovan on loan from LA Galaxy in 2009 after he impressed in training. However, the transfer didn’t pan out as all parties would have liked it to play out.

Since he joined during the winter transfer window, Donovan made only seven appearances across all competitions during the second half of the season. He failed to find the back of the net in any of these games. Eventually, Rekordmeister decided against signing him permanently from LA Galaxy.

Despite a poor outing in Bavaria, Donovan went on to have a good career with LA Galaxy. His other loan spells at other clubs in Europe were more fruitful. The versatile forward is considered as the USA’s best footballer as he went on to make 157 appearances for the national team.

Next. Which German player Bayern should sign in the summer?. dark

It was unfortunate that it didn’t work out for Donovan at Bayern. Donovan’s overall talent and tenacity were not completely displayed during his short spell with Die Roten. Maybe, he needed a longer spell to adapt to a new country and league to showcase his talent.