Bayern Munich's manager Jurgen Klinsmann knows Landon Donovan well. After all, both are Southern California residents and Klinsmann had spent much of his time before taking the Germany manager job advising the Los Angeles Galaxy on football matters.

So it should come as no surprise that Klinsmann almost lured Donovan to Germany this summer.

The Washington Post reports that Bayern Munich wanted to take Donovan on loan this summer with an option to buy the player. Klinsmann wanted to buy the player outright but the Bayern board, mindful of Donovan's failure at Bayer Leverkusen was more cautious.

In any event, MLS rejected the loan to buy offer as Donovan's departure could render the comp almost irrelevant in the current US national team setup, which features a vast majority of regular selections that play their club football abroad.

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