CARSON, Calif – David Beckham has resolved his issues with Landon Donovan, saying he recently had a good conversation with his Los Angeles Galaxy teammate.
Beckham practised with the Galaxy on Monday for the first time since returning from a five-month loan to Italian club AC Milan. Since his arrival back in Southern California, he has been peppered with questions about Donovan calling him a bad captain and portraying the English star as stingy in an upcoming book.
Beckham said details of their meeting will remain private but it went very well.
“I’m not going to talk about what was said,” Beckham said. “That was between me, Landon and the manager (Bruce Arena). I said the other day everything that was needed to say.”
On Saturday at an MLS event, Beckham called Donovan’s behaviour “unprofessional.”
Beckham will play his first game of the season with the Galaxy when they face the Red Bulls at Giants Stadium on Thursday. The Galaxy host AC Milan on Sunday.
“We’re getting past it, we’re moving on,” Donovan said. “There’s a lot of things I regret. I regret the way that I went about this process and I also regret some of the things I said.”
Donovan said he knew what he was getting into when he talked to Sports Illustrated senior writer Grant Wahl, the author of “The Beckham Experiment.”
“There were no surprises,” he said. “I’m generally a pretty honest person, but that doesn’t mean I need to share things with everybody.”
The Galaxy has won three straight to improve to 5-3-9 heading into the matchup with the Red Bulls, and they’re hoping Beckham’s return will help them continue their strong run.
Midfielder Chris Klein said Beckham and Donovan interacted just fine at practice.
“I don’t know if it’s buried or not, but for them to carry any of that is silly,” he said.
Beckham said his discussions with Milan on returning to the team in 2010 will be resolved in the next couple of months.
“Obviously Milan expressed that they want me to go back so I don’t see any reason why that would change,” he said. “We’ll have to wait and see. I hope to be going back there.”
So what about that Sunday matchup?
“It’s going to be strange, funny and exciting,” Beckham said. “It’s good when teams like that of that class and the players that they have come over. It’s about preparing yourself and it’s about also the excitement of having such great players here.”
